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"to do with his behaviour in Parliament, 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.

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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 young Duke of Marlborough was the young Earl of Sunderland, and had succeeded to the former title, 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; 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!"

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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

*Parl. Hist. vol. ix. p. 132.

† 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.

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 faction, and surmounted every obstacle to its immediate 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 senate-though his powerful pen was veiled beneath another name 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 in"stituted, or in whatsoever habit clothed those casuists "in red, who, having swords by their sides, are able at 66 once to cut those Gordian knots which others must untie "by degrees - who would still remember the necessity 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!" +

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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, in general, shrunk from speaking on this question, and even Pulteney was short and embarrassed. But the harangue of Wyndham was applauded, and not undeservedly, as a masterpiece 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

*Oldcastle's Remarks on the History of England, Letter viii. On the Spirit of Patriotism.

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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 Ministers - domineering Mi"nisters — 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 resent"ment. . . . . . 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 ca"pable to conduct the public affairs, and therefore "christening every other gentleman who has the honour "to be employed by the name of Blunderer! Suppose "this fine gentleman lucky enough to have gained over "to his party some persons really of fine parts, of ancient "families, of great fortunes; and others of desperate "views, arising from disappointed and malicious hearts; "all these gentlemen, with respect to their political be"haviour, 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 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, sup"pose him continually contracting friendships and fami"liarities 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 in66 terest 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 apply

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'ing to him, and he answering, I will get it you; tell me but what you want I will endeavour to procure "it for you upon this he puts a speech or two in

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the mouth of some of his creatures, or new converts, "and what he wants is moved for in Parliament. . . . "Let us further suppose this anti-Minister to have travelled, and at every Court where he was thinking him"self the greatest Minister, and making it his trade to reveal the secrets of every Court where he had be "fore been, void of all faith or honour, and betraying every master he ever served!"-How must Pulteney and Wyndham have quailed before this terrible invective! How must it have wrung the haughty soul of St. John!

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These Parliamentary skirmishes were the precursors of the great Electoral battle. It was fought, in little more than a month afterwards, with the utmost acrimony on both sides. Sir Robert himself made great exertions, and is said, on very good authority (his friend Mr. Etough's), to have spent no less than 60,000l. from his private fortune, which by this time had far outgrown its original bounds of 2000l. a year. Still more active, if possible, were the Opposition; they felt sanguine of a majority in their favour, while Walpole, on the other hand, expected his former numbers. Neither party succeeded altogether to their wish; a majority was obtained for the Minister, but by no means so large as at the last election. He still maintained his popularity in many places, his influence in many others; but the tide was every where upon the ebb, and in several counties flowed against him. The Excise scheme still rankled in many minds; the standing army, or the Septennial Act, served likewise for a popular cry; and the peace of England, while all was war upon the Continent, instead of being hailed with praise, was branded as tame tranquillity;' as an infamous dereliction of our old allies. In Scotland, Walpole's chief manager, Lord Isla, had become disliked, and several, even of the Whigs, joined in a complaint of undue influence in the election of the Sixteen Peers. "On the whole," writes Newcastle, "our Parliament is, "I think, a good one; but by no means such a one as the Queen and Sir Robert imagine. It will require great

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care, attention, and management, to set out right, and "to keep people in good humour."

Yet when the new Parliament met, in January, 1735, it appeared that the majority, though smaller, was quite as sure and steady as before; and the Opposition, after a few trials, lost hope and courage, and for a while again flagged in their exertions. The chief sign of their despondency, at this period, was the resolution of Bolingbroke to withdraw from England -a resolution which Mr. Coxe, without any proof, and, as I think, without any probability, ascribes to the philippic of Walpole.† The speech of the Minister, be it observed, was delivered a year before the departure of his rival. But the fiery and restless spirit of St. John had long pined at playing an inferior part-at being shut out from the great Parliamentary arena-at merely writing where he should have spoken, and advising what he ought to have achieved. Till lately he had been buoyed up with visions of victory, and was willing to labour and to bear; but now the result of the General Election dashed his hopes from the people, while the retirement of Lady Suffolk, at nearly the same moment, destroyed his expectations from the Court. Under these circumstances, veiling his mortification under the name of philosophy, he sought the delicious retreat of Chanteloup, in Touraine ‡, and the enjoyment of literary leisure. "My part is over," said he, "and he who remains on the stage after his part is "over deserves to be hissed off. . . . . I thought it my duty "not to decline the service of my party till the party "itself either succeeded or despaired of success. It is a

* Duke of Newcastle to Horace Walpole, May 24. 1734. † Memoirs, p. 426.

Chanteloup was built by Aubigny, the favourite of Princess Orsini, under her directions, and with a view to her future residence. (St. Simon, Mem. vol. x. p. 97. ed. 1829.) Delille calls it in Les Jardins,

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'Chanteloup, fier encore de l'exil de son maître!"

which might have been applied to Bolingbroke more justly than to Choiseul. - Bolingbroke had also another smaller Château near Fontainebleau, of which a most spirited description is given by the accomplished and high-minded author of Tremaine. (De Vere, vol. iii. p. 188-208.)