66 XVI. 1734. "Parliament." A warm debate ensued, maintained CHAP with especial ability by Pulteney. "We know," said he, "that the late King William was once applied to by some of his ministers to remove an "officer of his army because of a vote he had given "in this House, but that Prince, like a great and wise King, answered:-I suppose the gentleman "voted according to what appeared to him just "and right at that time; I know him to be a "brave and a good officer, and one who has always "done his duty in his military capacity; I have "nothing to do with his behaviour in Par"liament, and therefore will not remove him "from his command in the army.-His late Majesty was so sensible of the necessity of what is "now proposed, that he approved of a bill of this "very nature; the bill was actually drawn up, "and was to have been brought into the other "House by the late Earl Stanhope: this I know "to be true. I do not know how it was prevented, " but I know that His late Majesty cheerfully gave "his consent for the bringing it into Parliament."* Yet neither the eloquence of Pulteney as a speaker, nor his authority as the late Secretary at War, could prevail; so far from it that he and his party thought it prudent to shrink from a division. 66 In the Lords, a Bill for the same object was brought in by Marlborough, a great name on all questions, but especially on such as this. The CHAP. young Duke of Marlborough was the young Earl of XVI. Sunderland, and had succeeded to the former title, 1734. according to the limitations of the patent, in 1733, on the death of Marlborough's eldest daughter, Lady Godolphin. * A most brilliant speech for the Bill was made by Chesterfield, and "the House," says a contemporary, was charmed "but not convinced t; for, on dividing, 49 Peers present voted for the motion, but 78 against "it." The Duke of Argyle, who supported the ministry, reflected with much severity on the Duke of Bolton's want of service; "it is true," said he, "there have been two Lords removed, "but only one soldier!" 66 But the great onset of the patriots was made for the repeal of the Septennial Act, a question well fitted to embarrass the Minister and please the mob, and which would have been urged at an earlier period had it not threatened a breach between the Tories and the Whigs in opposition. Many of the latter-Pulteney above all- had supported the Septennial Act in 1716, and were unwilling to incur the charge of inconsistency by now demanding its repeal. The skill of Bolingbroke, however, discerned the value of this topic as an engine of * Coxe's Marlborough, vol. vi. p. 390. The young Duke afterwards joined the Court party at the persuasion of Henry Fox. "There," said the old Duchess Sarah, pointing to him one day," is the fox that has stolen my goose!" H. Walpole's Works, vol. iv. p. 315. + Tindal's Hist. vol. viii. p. 223. name XVI. 1734. faction, and surmounted every obstacle to its im- CHAP. mediate application: he urged Sir William Wyndham and his party to persist; he used his own influence and theirs over Pulteney, and at length prevailed. In fact, though Bolingbroke seldom comes before the historian at this period — though his persuasive voice was hushed in the senatethough his powerful pen was veiled beneath another yet his was the hand, mighty though unseen, which directed all the secret springs of Opposition, and moved the political puppets to his will. Nor let us condemn them. So eloquent his language, that it almost wins us to his sentiments. When he thunders against "all standing armies, "for whatsoever purpose instituted, or in what"soever habit clothed - those casuists in red who, having swords by their sides, are able at once to "cut those Gordian knots which others must untie 66 by degrees" who would still remember the necessity of national defence? of national defence? Or who would suspect the many frailties of one who declares "no "life should admit the abuse of pleasures; the "least are consistent with a constant discharge of "our public duty, the greatest arise from it!"† The attack on the Septennial Act took place on the 13th of March, being moved by Mr. Bromley, son of the Secretary of State under Queen Anne, and seconded by Sir John St. Aubyn. The Whigs, * Oldcastle's Ren arks on the History of England, Letter 8. On the Spirit of Patriotism. 1734. CHAP. in general, shrunk from speaking on this question, XVI. and even Pulteney was short and embarrassed. But the harangue of Wyndham was applauded, and not undeservedly, as a master-piece of eloquence and energy, and could only be rivalled by the splendid reply of Walpole which concluded the debate. I shall not weary the reader with any quotation of arguments which he may still so often hear re-echoed from the hustings or the House; I shall merely observe, that a large minority (184 against 247) supported the repeal of the act, and that Walpole, stung by the many taunts and insinuations thrown out against him, retorted in his speech with infinite spirit and readiness; and denounced Bolingbroke, in no very covert terms, as the real head of the faction leagued against him. "When gentlemen talk so much of wicked mi"nisters domineering ministers ministers pluming themselves in defiances ministers "abandoned by all sense of virtue or honour"other gentlemen may, I am sure, with equal "right, and I think more justly, speak of anti"ministers and mock-patriots, who never had "either virtue or honour, and are actuated only by motives of envy and resentment. . . . . . Let "me, too, suppose an anti-minister who thinks "himself a person of so great and extensive parts, "and so many eminent qualifications, that he looks upon himself as the only person in the kingdom capable to conduct the public affairs, and there"fore christening every other gentleman who has 66 66 XVI. "the honour to be employed by the name of CHAP. "Blunderer! Suppose this fine gentleman lucky "enough to have gained over to his party some 66 66 66 persons really of fine parts, of ancient families, "and of great fortunes; and others of desperate "views, arising from disappointed and malicious hearts; all these gentlemen, with respect to their political behaviour, moved by him, and by him solely, all they say, either in private or public, being only a repetition of the words he has put "into their mouths, and a spitting out that venom "which he has infused into them; and yet we may 66 66 suppose this leader not really liked by any, even "of those who so blindly follow him, and hated by "all the rest of mankind. We will suppose this "anti-minister to be in a country where he really ought not to be, and where he could not have "been but by the effect of too much goodness and mercy, yet endeavouring, with all his might and "all his art, to destroy the fountain from whence "that mercy flowed. In that country, suppose "him continually contracting friendships and fa"miliarities with the ambassadors of those Princes "who, at the time, happen to be most at enmity "with his own; and if, at any time, it should happen to be for the interest of any of those foreign ministers to have a secret revealed to them, which might be highly prejudicial to his "native country, suppose this foreign minister applying to him, and he answering, I will get it you; tell me but what you want, I will endea 1734. |