1721-1727 THE CABINET SYSTEM 717 together to transact business, there must be one to take the lead if their meetings are not to end in confusion. Till the death of Anne, Cabinets had met in the presence of the sovereign, and were regarded as his or her advisers. Yet even then their growing independence was beginning to make it necessary for them to find a leader or leaders in their own body, and people began to look first to Marlborough and Godolphin and then to Harley and St. John as superior to other members of the Cabinet, and even to apply to one or the other of them loosely the term 'first minister.' After the accession of George I., when the king ceased to sit in the Cabinet, it became still more necessary for that body to find a leader, and Townshend at first and afterwards Sunderland are sometimes spoken of by modern writers as Prime Ministers. No such position was, however, openly assigned to them by contemporaries, and when Walpole entered office in 1721 ministers were still regarded as equal amongst themselves. It was Walpole's chief contribution to constitutional progress that he created the Prime Ministership in his own person, and thereby gave to Cabinet government that unity which every government must possess if its action is to be enduring, and which earlier governments possessed through the presidency of the king. Yet so hateful was the new idea that Walpole had to disclaim any intention of making himself Prime Minister; and the word came into familiar use by being applied to him tauntingly by his enemies, as the fit name for a minister who wanted to convert all other ministers into his instruments instead of regarding them as his equals. 17. Walpole and Carteret. 1723 1724.-Walpole's first trial of strength was with Lord Carteret, one of the Secretaries of State, a man of great ability, who had the advantage of being able to address the king in German, whilst Walpole had to address him in Latin. Walpole founded his policy of peace on an alliance with France, whilst Carteret inherited the tradition of the Whigs of Anne's reign in favour of a continental alliance against France. Between Carteret and Walpole a rivalry soon sprang up, and in 1724 Carteret was forced to resign the Secretaryship, though he remained a member of the Cabinet for some time to come. 18. Wood's Halfpence. 1724. The first instance of Walpole's method of averting popular discontent by avoiding a collision with strong feeling arose when a grant was made to a certain Wood of the right of issuing a copper coinage in Ireland. The coins were good in themselves, but Wood had bought the right of coining them by bribes to the king's German mistresses, and Irishmen naturally concluded that they were to pay the cost. Swift, delighted at the opportunity of scourging his old enemies the Whigs, poured scorn and ridicule upon Wood's Halfpence in 'The Drapier's Letters,' and for the first time in Irish history both races and both creeds were united in resistance to the obnoxious grant. Walpole dreaded a disturbance more than anything else, and the grant was withdrawn. 19. The Last Years of George I. 1724-1727.—Walpole's influence deservedly grew from year to year. In spite of great difficulties, he maintained peace abroad. The Duke of Orleans had been dead for some years, and in 1726 Cardinal Fleury-who was as peace-loving as Walpole himself-became Prime Minister to the young king Louis XV., and did everything in his power to prevent war breaking out in Europe. In 1727 George I., as soon as he was able to leave England, crossed the sea to enjoy himself in Hanover. On the way, before he reached Osnabrück, he was struck down by apoplexy in his carriage. His attendants wished to seek help in the nearest village, but were urged on by cries of "Osnabrück! Osnabrück!" from their half-conscious master. Before the carriage reached Osnabrück George I. was dead. 20. George II. and Walpole. 1727. -The new king George II. had the advantage (which his father had not had) of being able to speak English. He was not intelligent, but was straightforward and courageous, and though, like his father, he kept mistresses, he 1727 ST. MARY WOOLNOTH 719 Church of St. Mary Woolnoth, London; finished in 1727 from the designs of was accustomed on all difficult questions to defer to the advice of his wife, Queen Caroline--a woman of sound judgment and of wide intellectual interests. George's first impulse was to choose as his leading minister Sir Spencer Compton, a personal favourite of his own. Compton, however, being ordered to write the speech in which the king was to notify his accession to the Privy Council, was so overpowered by the difficulties of the task that he begged Walpole to write it for him. After this the queen easily persuaded her husband that Compton was not strong enough for the post; and Walpole, being recalled to office, was soon as much trusted by George II. as he had been by George I. 21. Breach between Walpole and Townshend. 1730.-Even after the complete establishment of Parliamentary supremacy the favour of the king was not to be despised; for, though he could not shake the power of the Whig aristocracy as a whole, yet if one Whig entered upon a rivalry with another, his support would be decisive, at least for a time. Such a rivalry now broke out between Walpole and his brother-in-law, Townshend, who had been Secretary of State since 1721. The main cause of the quarrel is best described by Walpole himself. "As long," he said, "as the firm was Townshend and Walpole, the utmost harmony prevailed; but it no sooner became Walpole and Townshend than things went wrong." In other words, the question between them was whether there was to be a Prime Minister or not. Townshend, who was Secretary of State, held to the old doctrine that he was accountable only to the king and Parliament. Walpole held to the new doctrine that he himself—as first Lord of the Treasurywas to direct the policy of the other ministers. It is not by accident that the First Lord of the Treasury has usually been the Prime Minister; in later years it has been accepted as the general rule. It is his business to find the money expended by the other ministers, and it is therefore only reasonable that decision of a policy which will cost money should rest with him. He should be able to exercise a veto over proposals which lead to an expenditure which, even if it is desirable in itself, may be greater than the country is able or willing to bear. In 1730 Townshend resigned, and being honourably desirous of keeping out of farther disputes with his brother-in-law, remained in private life to the end of his days. 22. Bolingbroke as Organiser of the Opposition. 1726-1732.— Already a violent opposition was gathering against Walpole. In 1716 the Pretender, being too stupid to take good advice, had dis 1725 WALPOLE AND BOLINGBROKE 721 missed Bolingbroke from his service (see p. 705). Bolingbroke, by bribing one of the mistresses of George I., had interested that king in his favour, and in 1725 his attainder had been reversed. Walpole, however, had still sufficient influence to procure the main Sir Robert Walpole: from the picture by Van Loo in the National Portrait Gallery. tenance of the clause in the Act of Attainder which excluded him from the House of Lords. Bolingbroke, the most eloquent orator of the day, was thus shut out from the only place in which at that |