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SPAIN.-Philip V.; Ferdinand VI.; Charles III.

EMPERORS OF GERMANY.-Charles VI.; Charles Albert VII., of
Bavaria; Francis I., of Lorraine.

POPES.-Benedict XIII.; Clement XII.; Benedict XIV.;
Clement XIII.

PRUSSIA. Frederick William I.; Frederick II. (the Great.)
RUSSIA.-Peter II.; Anne; John V.; Elizabeth (Empress).

**The leading administrations of George the Second's reign are noticed under the "Landmarks of Chronology," p. 715.

§ 1. Accession of George II. Sir Robert Walpole's administration. Qualities of the king. His domestic relations embittered by the hatred of his son, the Prince of Wales.--§ 2. Walpole's great influence over the House of Commons. His system of bribery and corruption. Success of his government. Peace and commerce promoted.-§ 3. Death of Queen Caroline. Hostilities provoked by the insolence of the Spaniards. Jenkins, a victim of Spanish cruelty, brought before the bar of the Commons. § 4. War with Spain. Porto Bello captured by Admiral Vernon. His failure at Carthagena. Walpole's resignation, and his retirement to private life as Earl of Orford.-§ 5. Disputes respecting the Austrian succession to the kingdom of Hungary. Maria Theresa. England undertakes to support her. Battle of Dettingen won by George II.-§ 6. Battle of Fontenoy fought by the Duke of Cumberland against Marshal Saxe.-§ 7. Rebellion in Scotland, and visit of the Pretender, Charles Edward. Assembling of his forces. His temporary successes, and advance into England. His retreat.§ 8. Pursued by the Duke of Cumberland. The Pretender's troops disheartened. § 9. Battle of Culloden, and flight of the Pretender. Lords Balmerino and Kilmarnock beheaded, and numbers executed. Account of the Pretender.-§ 10. Successes of the French during the

absence of the English troops from the Continent. Our great naval victories. Battles of Finisterre and Belleisle.—§ 11. Contests between Whigs and Tories. Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. General peace. Immense losses sustained by the war.-§ 12. State of our domestic affairs. The national energies directed to the arts of peace. Colonization and commerce extensively promoted. 13. Population of the kingdom. Its marvellous increase, and the causes. 14. Conduct of Frederick Prince of Wales. His death. -§ 15. Alteration of the calendar.-§ 16. Young William Pitt, the early dread of Walpole. - § 17. Hostilities between France and England. Trial and execution of Admiral Byng -§ 18. Dissatisfaction with the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. Resignation of the Duke of Newcastle, and appointment of Pitt as minister. Commencement of the "Seven Years' War."-§ 19. Genius and energy of Pitt. General Wolf.-§ 20. The French settlement of Canada. Expedition to Virginia. George Washington.-§ 21. The fort of Quebec. Battle on the heights of Abraham, and capture of Quebec. Death of Wolf. § 22. Indian affairs. Clive's battle of Plassy. Destruction of Cherbourg. Convention of Closter Seven. England and Prussia defy the whole world. Their partial defeats. England subsidizes her continental allies.-§ 23. England's prosperous career. Sudden death of the king. His character.

§ 1. PARLIAMENTARY government was now so strong that a continuance of policy was guaranteed by the remaining of the same minister in office. This was Sir Robert Walpole, the first constitutional head of the government who openly adopted "Peace and Commerce" as his motto, and who adhered to those principles at the expense, first, of his popularity, and then of his power. George II., at the mature age of forty-four, was well enough known to his subjects to excite no extravagant hopes of wisdom or greatness; but he had, at all events, the wisdom to forego his own plans at the suggestion of his official adviser, and the greatness to confess that the counsel had been beneficial to the country. Our Hanoverian kings were deficient in many qualities which constitute the statesman or hero; but they all possessed in an eminent degree the attribute of personal courage. George I. had distinguished himself in several campaigns. George II. had charged at Oudenarde, and always offended Walpole by maintaining that the only way to maintain our place in Europe was by the sword.

A.D. 1727.] THE KING'S DOMESTIC TROUBLES.

695

The avenging fate which makes our own vices into whips to scourge us embittered his domestic relations, by the hatred of his son, as he had marred the happiness of his father. This young man, at twenty-two years of age, must have had qualities about him provocative of dislike in no ordinary degree, for his mother, the wise and amiable Caroline, was as averse to him as her husband. At once, on his creation as Prince of Wales, he took his place as the declared antagonist of his parents, and furnished many an arrow against the existing ministry by letting his supporters give the most unmistakeable intimations of how deep his revenge would be if he survived the king. The spectacle of a father and son glowing with mutual hate might have been followed by similar scenes of animosity between the husband and wife, if Caroline had not shown the greatest generosity and forbearance. Nor was George without the redeeming virtue of love and respect for that gentle helpmate, who forgave him his. irregularities of conduct, and retained her influence over him by the skill with which she concealed her power. But in governing this dull and headstrong man she was aided rather than thwarted by the excellent sense of the lady to whom he believed himself to be devoted. Mrs. Howard, afterwards created Countess of Suffolk, was of so blameless a life and disinterested a character, that it was generally believed that her relations with the king never exceeded the bounds of propriety, and that George himself, with the perverted taste of the period, was hypocritical the wrong way, and pretended to vices which he did not practise. Immorality, indeed, was so much the fashion, that a persistence in a virtuous life was looked on as a sign of vulgarity, and men gambled, drank, and were ostentatiously wicked to avoid the imputation of not behaving like gentlemen.

§ 2. Walpole had so entirely moulded the House of Commons to his will by a system of bribery and corruptionbribery of the electors and corruption of the members-that

he was disposed to raise its power to the highest pitch. The Lords, who, from their wealth and local influence, possessed a concurrent authority over the votes, made no opposition to his bestowal of as great a preponderance as he chose upon the Lower House; and in the same way that the cunning of the Tudors in cloaking all their tyrannies with the great name of Parliament created a belief that the power was really exercised by that slavish body, the selfishness of bribers and borough-mongers, in the days of Sir Robert Walpole, still further increased the supremacy of the Commons, by allowing it to assert privileges and claims from which they saw no danger, as the creation of the governing assembly was in their own hands. It is strange that oppression and dishonesty equally advanced the popular influence; and that if Henry VIII. had not trampled on the nation, and Walpole and the Peers had not bribed the constituencies, the peaceful growth of Parliamentary power would have been retarded, if not impossible.

Walpole, therefore, with a majority in both Houses, could carry out his policy undisturbed, and for twelve years secured the country's repose. While other nations were fighting, we filled the sea with our merchant ships, and cultivated manufactures and trade at home. After a campaign between belligerents in whose quarrels we did not interfere, Sir Robert used to count his gains, and tell the king, "Fifty thousand men have been killed this year in Europe, and not a single Englishman." But those halcyon days were doomed to end by the folly and presumption of Englishmen themselves.

§ 3. An ally in all peaceful measures was lost to the minister by the death of Queen Caroline in 1737, while the military ardour of the king continued unimpaired. Whether the secret service money began to be insufficient, or the House expected larger payments from a change of administration, the majorities to which he was accustomed began to decline. There was little ground for hostility on his domestic policy,

A.D. 1739.]

WAR WITH SPAIN.

697

and it was resolved to rouse the national spirit by accusations of his subserviency to other powers. The Opposition had already reduced the army to seventeen thousand men, and greatly diminished the fleet; ships were trading in all quarters without convoy; the coasts were unguarded, and the militia without accoutrements or discipline. Spain, perhaps relying on these circumstances, pushed her maritime rights beyond their legitimate bounds, and stopped commercial vessels near her coasts to search them for contraband goods. The right of search at that time exercised by Spain was insulting to English pride. Petitions, filled with exaggerated accounts of Spanish insolence, were poured into Parliament; and Walpole himself demanded explanations of the offending power, and induced it to offer reparation to our trade and honour by compensation and apology. But these were not what the irritated Tory opposition desired. They produced a man of the name of Jenkins on the floor of the House, who showed them one of his ears in a box, and swore that the Spaniards had cut it off five years before, when he was master of a trading vessel. The beauty of the speech with which he concluded his narrative shows that the worthy Jenkins had good teachers. "What did you do when they had mutilated you in this manner ?" he was asked; and he said, "I looked for mercy to my God, and for revenge to my country."

§ 4. There was no further possibility of avoiding war; but, to the disappointment and disgust of the Opposition, Walpole remained in office. Great exertions were made, and fleets were fitted out. Admiral Vernon gained immense reputation by taking the strong fortress of Porto Bello with six ships, after it had been declared impregnable by the whole navy; but the reputation was political more than maritime, for it was exalted by his party as a triumph over the administration. Meantime the Spanish privateers were not idle, and picked up coasting brigs innumerable, and followed our larger vessels in their more distant voyages. Merchants and ship

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