HENRY AMONG those political mediocrities who, through the influence of high social position, have been called upon to lead the senate and control the affairs of the nation, the name of Henry Pelham occupies a prominent place. The brother of the powerful Duke of Newcastle, whose command of votes in the House of Commons was notorious, Henry Pelham passed rapidly through those preliminary stages which bar the progress of the less favoured aspirant to parliamentary honours, and on the resignation of Lord Wilmington was instructed to form an administration, of which he became the head. For eleven years, in conjunction with his brother, he stood at the helm of government. Yet, save the accident of his lofty birth, it would be difficult to find that he possessed any of those great gifts which are generally associated with statesmen who exercise the responsibility of supreme rule. He was no orator; in the state papers which issued from his pen there was no conspicuous ability, nor was he either quick-sighted or far-sighted in his view of surrounding complications. Patient, cautious, laborious, and in the main scrupulously honest, he is one of those advisers of the crown who, under less propitious circumstances, would never have been enrolled in a cabinet, but who, aided by the advantages of rank and connection, wins the prize which is denied to abler, though less favoured rivals. Henry Pelham was born in 1696, and after receiving a private education at his father's house was sent up to Oxford. His university career was, however, cut short by the breaking out of the Jacobite rebellion in 1715. He displayed his loyalty on this occasion to the house of Brunswick by enlisting as a volunteer in the regiment of General Dormer, and took part in the battle | PELHAM. of Preston, where the rebels encountered a severe defeat. At the age of twenty-three he was returned to Parliament for the borough of Seaford, in Sussex, in which place the Pelhams had much influence; a few years later he was unanimously chosen one of the members for Sussex, which county he continued to represent during the rest of his life. A stanch Whig, powerfully connected, and a personal friend of Walpole, the rapid rise of Pelham was assured. In 1720 he was appointed treasurer of the chamber, the following year he took his seat at the Treasury board, and in 1724 he was nominated to the post of secretary-at-war, which he occupied until he was transferred, a few years later, to the then highly lucrative post of paymaster of the forces. "In his different employments," writes his biographer Archdeacon Coxe, "he was no less remarkable for urbanity of demeanour than for great regularity and unremitted diligence in business." During the period of the Walpole administration Henry Pelham was the stanch friend and pupil of the prime minister; he warmly supported the Excise Bill; he so bitterly attacked Pulteney that at one time a duel between the two was on the eve of occurring; he used all his efforts to soothe the angry feeling which his brother, the Duke of Newcastle, who was a member of the cabinet, entertained towards Walpole; and on the celebrated motion of Sandys for the removal of the "corrupt minister" he stood forth as the principal defender of his persecuted chief. "His speech on this occasion," says Coxe, "evinces not only great powers of argument, but considerable "Memoirs of the Pelham Administration." This valuable work is the chief authority for details touching the political biography of Henry Pelham. knowledge of foreign and domestic affairs, | guaranteed by a convention, which was admirably combined and directed, in justifying the system of policy which was now so pertinaciously arraigned. Sir Robert Walpole felt the full value of so efficient a coadjutor, and frankly declared that to Mr. Pelham he owed his principal support in the House of Commons." called the Pragmatic Sanction, and to which England had been a party. The Austrian dominions were, however, claimed by the Elector of Bavaria, whose pretensions were advocated by France, and also as a necessary consequence by the Bourbon monarch of Spain. In this hour of the difficulty Upon the fall of Sir Robert Walpole and of Maria Theresa, Frederick the Great rethe accession of Lord Wilmington to power, solved to reap his advantage. He marched Henry Pelham, though his brother continued into Silesia with a large body of troops, and to hold his post in the new administration inflicted a severe defeat upon the Austrians as secretary of state for the southern depart- at Molwitz. At the same time France ment, declined to take office. He was poured her forces into Bavaria, declared her strongly urged by Walpole, under whom he protégé the elector Duke of Austria, and had studied finance, to accept the seals as then prepared to lay siege to Vienna. Surchancellor of the exchequer, but in vain; "he rounded by foes, Maria Theresa had no was unwilling," he said, "to undertake so alternative but to take refuge in Hungary, responsible a trust under a weak govern- where the Magyars rallied round her standment." Still he held his lucrative office as ard and proclaimed her, amid vociferous paymaster of the forces, and though not in cheers, as their queen. Zealous in the cause the cabinet was adviser-in-chief to his of the persecuted young sovereign, the brother. The Wilmington administration English House of Commons voted her a subshortly after its formation began to exhibit sidy of £500,000, and a sum of £5,000,000 the usual jealousies which divided the for conducting a war in favour of her cause. cabinets of the eighteenth century. The Troops under the command of Lord Stair able Lord Carteret, one of the most accom- were despatched to co-operate with the plished linguists of his day, was then secre- Dutch, and the English force was afterwards tary of state for the northern department. reinforced by certain regiments from Hesse He had warmly supported the foreign policy and Hanover in the pay of England. It of the king, which had culminated in Eng- was now made matter of complaint by the land taking part in the war in favour of Tory party that Hanover, though far more Maria Theresa, and was now intriguing interested, as a Continental nation, in the against the Duke of Newcastle for supreme hostile operations being carried on than power; it was therefore patent to all that England, had contributed nothing to the a cabinet weak in itself, and ruled by a expenses of the war. Pitt indignantly deman so feeble and incompetent as Wilming-clared that the proud kingdom of Great ton, could not long stand against the pressure of intestine dissensions. The partiality of George II. for his beloved Hanoverians was also another difficulty which hampered the actions of ministers and favoured the tactics of the Opposition. The war in support of the courageous daughter of Austria was being actively carried on. It will be remembered that on the death of the Emperor Charles the succession of his daughter, Maria Theresa, to the throne was disputed. This succession had been Britain had become a mere province of the despicable electorate of Hanover. Subsequently the electorate was roused out of its false economy and furnished some 6000 troops. Owing to the dilatory proceedings of the aged Stair, now almost in his dotage, the war was being feebly conducted. In the summer of 1743 King George, accompanied by his son, the Duke of Cumberland, and his favourite adviser, the accomplished Lord Carteret, the only member of the cabinet and said, 'Now, boys, now for the honour of England! fire, and behave bravely, and the French will soon run.' Then the French foot gave an huzza, and fired very fast; but our men fired too fast for them, and soon made them retreat, and then gave another huzza and fired. We had neither victuals, drink, nor tents to lie in after the work was done. The king stood in the field till ten that night. who could speak German, no little advan- | as hail. Then the king flourished his sword tage to an intriguing minister, crossed over to Hanover. He found the allied English, Hanoverian, and Hessians in a most critical situation, being, owing to the superior generalship of Marshal Noailles, cooped up in the narrow valley between Mount Spessart and the Maine, which extended from Aschaffenburg to the village of Dettingen. As forage was beginning to fail the allies resolved to fall back upon Hanau, where they had established their magazines. On approaching Dettingen, which was occupied by the French, it became necessary for the allies, in order to reach their base of operations, to force a way through the village. A fierce engagement ensued; many fell on both sides, but in the end the French were completely routed and the allies enabled to continue their march without further opposition to Hanau. In this battle George II. displayed conspicuous bravery. A volunteer in the regiment of Lord Ashburnham thus describes the conduct of the king on this occasion: "The French fired at his Majesty from a battery of twelve cannon, but levelled too high. I saw the balls go within half a yard of his head. The Duke d'Aremberg desired him to go out of danger; he answered, 'Don't tell me of danger; I'll be even with them.' He is certainly the boldest man I ever saw. His horse being frighted, ran away with him, but he soon stopped him. The French got into the corner of a wood to flank our right. The king then drew his sword and ordered the Hanoverian foot and horse, and some English, through the wood, and rode about like a lion. He drew them up in a line of battle himself, ordered six cannon to the right, and bade them fire on the flank of the French. He stood by till they fired; they did great execution, killing thirty or forty at a shot. Then he went to the foot, and ordered them not to fire till the French came close, who were about one hundred yards distant. Then the French fired upon us directly, and the shot flew again as thick "The duke's intrepidity led his men into the midst of a storm of fire; and his horse, having received four wounds, ran away with him towards the enemy, where two Austrians, mistaking him for a French officer, fired their pistols at his head, and he received a ball in his leg." The battle of Dettingen is the last engagement in which a king of England took a personal share. In consequence of this victory the French were compelled to evacuate Germany. Much of the popularity which the king might have gained by this exhibition of courage was lost by his injudicious partiality towards his beloved Hanoverians. He petted them, promoted them, to the exclusion of English officers, and excited the greatest jealousy throughout the British army. The cry of "No Hanoverian king!" was raised at several banquets held in London when loyal toasts were proposed, and many English officers threw up their commissions. The Tories encouraged the disaffection for their own party purposes, and it now seemed as if the turn of events was also about to favour their cause. A new administration was on the eve of formation. Lord Wilmington, who had long been an invalid, was fast sinking, and the Whigs were anxious as to his successor. Was the new premier to be the accomplished classic and linguist, the convivial companion, the favourite adviser of the king, Lord Carteret? or was he to be the foolish but politically powerful Duke of Newcastle? Was he to be the once influential leader of the party, Pulteney, now the forgotten Earl |