his own parts made him reluctant to speak in public, and select for his familiar society persons of inferior intellect and low buffoonery; nor did he ever show a proper dignity, either in his mind or man

ners.

It may seem absurd to reckon amongst the faults of this prince that he was already fifty-four years of age, attached to German customs, and utterly ignorant of the English language; yet there can be no doubt that these were the circumstances which most impeded his good government or extensive popularity. A hard fate that the enthronement of a stranger should have been the only means to secure our liberties and laws! Almost a century of foreign masters!—such has been the indirect but undoubted effect of the Great Rebellion. Charles and James, driven abroad by the tumults at home, received a French education, and pursued a French policy. Their government was overthrown by a Dutchman; George the First and George the Second were entirely German; and thus from 1660 to 1760, when a truly English monarch once more ascended the throne, the reign of Queen Anne appears the only exception to a foreign dominion.

Let not these observations mislead the reader as to my opinion of that crisis. Far from me be any feeling of aversion, or even of indifference, to the Hanover succession! On the enthronement of that family depended, I most firmly believe, the security of our laws, of our properties, of our religion, of every thing that we either cherish or revere. In spite of every drawback, the cause of Hanover was undoubtedly the cause of liberty, and the cause of the Stuarts the cause of despotism. These two adverse principles will be found in almost all ages, and under every variety of parties, to carry on their fierce and unceasing warfare; the bright spirit is constantly struggling against the malicious fiend. But let it be observed, that amongst all the masks which the hateful demon of despotism knows how to assume, none is more dangerous and ensnaring than when it puts on the disguise of revolutionary license-when it combats its rival with its own weapons, and seems only to aim at a greater extension of liberty. Thus are the friends of constitutional and settled freedom (unassailable on all other points) too often taken in the rear and overpowered. Can it be doubted, for example, that in France, in 1791, when the struggle lay between the Gironde, or partisans of the new limited and representative monarchy, and the Montagne, or the clamourers for further democratic changes, the cause of liberty was really with the former, and the cause of despotism with the latter? Would not the former, by their success, have maintained a constitutional freedom? Did not the latter, by prevailing, only conduct the nation through the dismal road of anarchy to its inevitable termination, a military despotism? To trace these two principles at work, and to assign to each its proper side at dif

[See Lord Campbell's Lives of the Chancellors-Life of Lord Cowper, for an ac count of the king's first meeting the Parliament, and the embarrassment arising from his entire ignorance of the English language.-Vol. iv. p. 351, ch. cxvi.]

ferent periods, is one of the most curious and most instructive tasks in history.

The Earl of Clarendon, the ambassador from Queen Anne, had reached Hanover on the 16th of July, and a few days afterwards had his first audience at the country palace of Herrenhausen. The Elector was profuse in his expressions of attachment and gratitude to her Majesty, disclaimed all intention of displeasing her, and imputed the application of Schutz entirely to Princess Sophia.* But on the 5th of August arrived Mr. Craggs, with an account of the Queen's dangerous illness; and the same night three expresses, one to Lord Clarendon, and two to the Elector, brought the news of her death. George received the intelligence with composure and moderation. He immediately summoned his ministers. He determined to entrust the government of his German dominions to a council, with his brother, Prince Ernest, at its head; that his eldest son (afterwards George the Second) should accompany him to England; that the greater part of his family should follow a few weeks after; but that his young grandson, Prince Frederick, should remain at Hanover. No small testimony to his merit and good government was displayed in the extreme grief of the people at his approaching departure; and his exaltation could not console them for their loss. The King, as a parting gift, intimated to the magistrates that they might ask some favour from him; and, at their request, he took the excise off provisions, and released the insolvent debtors from prison.

The delay which took place in his departure-he did not set out till the 31st-has been ascribed to profound policy, and to the prudent wish of obtaining some further intelligence from England;† but writers are too frequently unwilling to assign any common motive to any Royal action, and they forget that George the First was always deliberate and phlegmatic in his movements, and had many matters of business to settle in his electorate. On his arrival at the Hague he received compliments from the States and foreign ministers, and communications from his friends in England, and he finally matured his arrangements for the new administration. At length, at six o'clock on the evening of the 18th of September, the King and Prince landed at Greenwich, where a vast concourse of the principal nobility and gentry had hastened to welcome their arrival. George showed very flattering attention to the leading Whigs, such as Marlborough, Sunderland, and Somers, but took no notice whatever of Ormond or Harcourt; and it was after many difficulties, and in total silence, that Oxford was admitted the next morning to the honour of kissing his hand.

Even before his Majesty's landing, he had, in some degree, dis

* Despatches from Lord Clarendon to Secretary Bromley, published by Coxe. "When," says Lord Clarendon, “I came to mention Schutz's demand, the Elector said these words: 'J'espère que la Reine n'a pas cru que cela s'est fait par mon ordre; je vous assure que cela a été fait à mon insu; la défunte Electrice avait écrit à Schutz sans que je l'aie su pour s'informer pourquoi le Prince n'avait pas eu son writ,'" &c.

† Coxe's Memoirs of Walpole, vol. i. p. 60.

closed his political intentions by sending directions to remove Bolingbroke from his office of Secretary of State, and to appoint in his place Lord Townshend. This order was executed on the last of August with strong marks of displeasure against the fallen minister; Shrewsbury, Somerset, and Cowper taking the seals from him, and locking the doors of his office. The bitter mortification of Bolingbroke pierces through the thin veil of his philosophy, as he writes to Atterbury:-"To be removed was neither matter of surprise nor of concern to me. But the manner of my removal shocked me for at least two minutes. I am not in the least intimidated from any consideration of the Whig malice and power: but the grief of my soul is this-I see plainly that the Tory party is gone.'

The nomination of the new ministry by the King was a full triumph to the Whigs. He showed, however, a jealousy of those veteran chiefs who, under the name of Junta, had formerly directed them, by giving his chief confidence to a man hitherto of much less weight amongst them-Lord Townshend, already appointed as Secretary of State, and now considered as Prime Minister. Stanhope was made the second Secretary, and the Duke of Montrose succeeded the Earl of Mar for Scotland. Walpole, at first, received only the subordinate appointment of Paymaster-General, and was excluded from the Cabinet; but, daily rising as a debater and financier, before many months, was found so useful in the House of Commons as to be highly promoted. The Duke of Shrewsbury, having resigned his offices of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Lord Treasurer, was succeeded in the former by Lord Sunderland; whilst the latter was put into commission, with Lord Halifax at its head. As further favours to Halifax, he was raised to an Earldom, and allowed to transmit to his nephew his lucrative sinecure of Auditor of the Exchequer. Lord Cowper became Lord Chancellor; the Earl of Wharton, Privy Seal; and the Earl of Nottingham, President of the Council. Mr. Pulteney was Secretary at War, and the Duke of Argyle Commander-in-Chief for Scotland. In Ireland, the Archbishop of Armagh and Sir Constantine Phipps were removed from the office of Justices, and the latter replaced as Chancellor by Mr. Brodrick. High posts in the Royal household were given to Somerset and Devonshire. The Privy Council was dissolved, and a new one formed, which, according to the higher ideas of the office at that time, consisted of only thirty-three members. The Cabinet Council was to comprise Nottingham, Sunderland (when in England), Somers, Halifax, Townshend, Stanhope, the Lord Chancellor, and Marlborough. The latter had been most earnestly entreated by the Duchess, even as she states, upon her knees, not to accept of any

Macpherson's State Papers, vol. ii. p. 651. In a previous letter, printed in Bolingbroke's own correspondence, he says, "I served the Queen to the last gasp as faithfully, as disinterestedly, as zealously as if her life had been good for twenty years, and she had had twenty children to succeed her: on the same principle will I serve the

King if he employs me." To Lord Strafford, Aug. 13, 1714.

f Lord Somers was at this time too infirm for any active office. A further pension of 2000l. a year was, however, granted him. See Comm. Journ., vol. xviii. p. 110.

employment in the new reign. She urged that the exploits he had achieved, and the wealth he had amassed, would render him of far more use to the Court than the Court could be to him; and that he ought never to put it in the power of any King to use him ill. It might have been expected that Marlborough would have yielded to the arguments of one to whom he once declared, "I do assure you, upon my soul, I had much rather the whole world should go wrong than that you should be uneasy." "'* But the brilliant meshes of a Court are seldom spread in vain.† The Duke consented to resume his offices of Captain General and Master of the Ordnance; and was, besides, gratified by appointments bestowed upon his three sons-in-law, Lord Godolphin, the Earl of Bridgewater, and the Duke of Montagu. He soon found himself, however, reduced to a mere shadow of his past authority; he was treated with much respect, but no sort of confidence; scarcely ever invited to the Cabinet, of which he nominally formed a part, and confined to the most ordinary routine of his official functions. We are told that, though Commander-in-Chief, he could not obtain even a lieutenancy for a friend; and that not unfrequently he requested Pulteney, the Secretary at War, to solicit in his place; and used to add, "Do not say it is for me; for whatever I ask is sure to be refused!"

Such neglect to such a hero may palliate, but cannot excuse, his hateful treachery. It appears from the Stuart Papers, that, whilst Marlborough continued, at least in name, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, he sent a sum of money to France as a loan to the Pretender just before the rebellion of 1715, which this money, no doubt, assisted in raising!‡

The new Secretary of State, Charles Viscount Townshend, was born about the year 1676, of a very ancient family in Norfolk. His father, Sir Horatio Townshend, was, according to Clarendon, "a gentleman of the greatest interest and credit in that large county, of very worthy principles, and of a noble fortune, which he engaged very frankly in the King's cause."§ On the Restoration, his zeal was rewarded by a peerage, and afterwards by the further rank of Viscount. Charles, the second Lord, on first taking his seat in the House of Lords, joined the Tory party; but his more matured conviction led him to act with the Whigs, and he especially attached himself to Somers. He did not, however, take any prominent part in politics until, in 1709, he was appointed joint plenipotentiary with Marlborough to treat of peace at Gertruydenberg, and in the same year ambassador to the States General. As such, he concluded with them the Barrier Treaty; and the recommendation of Slingeland, Heinsius, and their other leading men, proved afterwards of no small service to him with George the First. Returning home, on the

Letter to the Duchess, May 29, 1702.

La Cour," says La Bruyère, "ne rend pas heureux, mais empêche de l'être ailleurs." Lord Bolingbroke to the Pretender, Sept. 25, 1715, Stuart Papers. See Appendix. History of the Rebellion, vol. vii. p. 322, ed. Oxford, 1826.

expulsion of the Whigs from office, he continued to support them in Parliament; and drew still closer the personal friendship and county connection, which already united him to Walpole, by a marriage with his sister. Few men, perhaps, ever deserved or obtained a higher reputation for integrity; and it is no small proof of the general opinion, that, though he so decidedly forsook his first political connection, he was never exposed to any taunt of base or interested motives. His mind was frank and open; his intentions generous and honourable. To both his wives he was a most kind husband; to all his children a most affectionate father; and to his servants a benevolent master: "sure tests of real good nature," adds Lord Chesterfield; "for no man can long together simulate or dissimulate at home." Unfortunately, this amiable disposition was joined with a manner coarse and rough, even to brutality. He was imperious and overbearing, impatient of contradiction, and extremely tenacious of preconceived opinions. On one occasion we find him candidly own that he knew himself to be "extremely warm.”* From this disposition, combined with the influence of Walpole over him, he was at one period betrayed into a very reckless and unjustifiable course of opposition; and the same temper sometimes led him to opinions, or, at least, to expressions, ill suited to a constitutional monarchy. "His Lordship," writes his private secretary, in 1716, "thinks it the great misfortune of this government that our Kings cannot always act up to what they judge right, but must be often obliged to have regard to the humour of their subjects." Assiduity and experience, rather than natural parts, had made him an excellent man of business. As an orator, he was confused and ungraceful in his delivery; but commanding respect by his thorough knowledge of the subject, and always speaking to the point. As a minister, it may truly be asserted that none ever entered Downing Street with a more honest heart, or left it with cleaner hands.

The second Secretary of State, James Stanhope, one of the very few subjects in modern times who have combined the direction of councils with the command of armies, was born at Paris, in 1673. He left the University of Oxford as a mere stripling, to accompany his father when sent ambassador to Spain, soon after the Revolution. Yet in spite of this early interruption to his studies, he had already acquired some classical proficiency; the intervals of leisure which he afterwards snatched from active employments made him an accom

Coxe's Walpole, vol. i. p. 338.

Mr. Poyntz to Secretary Stanhope, Aug. 17, 1716. Coxe's Walpole, vol. ii. p. 73. From his birth abroad, it became necessary to pass an act for his naturalization in 1696. See Commons' Journal, vol. xi. p. 420, &c.

[Lord Chesterfield gracefully closes his "Character" of Lord Townshend as follows: "Having thus mentioned the slight defects, as well as the many valuable parts of his character, I must declare, that I owed the former to truth, and the latter to gratitude and friendship as well as truth, since, for some years before he retired from business, we lived in the strictest intimacy that the difference of our age and situations could admit, during which time he gave me many unasked and unequivocal proofs of his friendship.-Chesterfield's Letters, vol. ii. 443.]