XVI. 1733. CHAP. "such inhuman oppression, that the people rose as 66 one man under the command of the Prince of Orange and the Counts Egmont and Horn (to "whom the Cardinal gave the name of GUEUX or Sturdy Beggars), and they, with seas of blood, in"finite expense, and consummate bravery, drove ❝out their oppressors. The storm thus thickening around the Court, Queen Caroline applied in great anxiety to Lord Scarborough, as to the King's personal friend, for his advice. His answer was, that the Bill must be relinquished. "I will answer for my regiment," he added, "against the Pretender, but not against "the opposers of the Excise." Tears came into the Queen's eyes. Then," said she, "we must drop it!" + Sir Robert, on his part, summoned a meeting of his friends in the House of Commons, and requested their opinion. The general sentiment amongst them was still to persevere. It was urged that all taxes were obnoxious, and that there would be an end of supplies if mobs were to control the legislature in the manner of raising them. Sir Robert, having heard every one first, declared how conscious he felt of having meant well; but that, in the present inflamed temper of the people, the act could not be carried into execution without an armed force; and that he would never be * A Word to the Freeholders and Burgesses of Great Britain, p. 49. On the Belgian confederates nick-named Les Gueux, see De Thou's History, lib. xl. vol. v. p. 216. ed. 1734. Maty's Life of Chesterfield, p. 124. the minister to enforce taxes at the expense of CHAP. blood! * JAXVI.J The voice of moderation having thus prevailed, 1789. when, on the 11th of April, there came on the order of the day for the second reading, Walpole rose, and moved that it should be postponed for two months; and thus the whole measure was dropped. The Opposition were scarcely satisfied with this hard-won victory, and wished to reject the Bill with the brand of their aversion upon it; but the general sense of the House was so evidently against the suggestion, that it was not pressed, nor even openly proposed. Throughout England, however, the news was hailed with unmixed pleasure, and celebrated with national rejoicings. The Monument was illuminated in London; bonfires without number blazed through the country; the Minister was, in many places, burnt in effigy amidst loud acclamations of the mob; any of his friends that came in their way were roughly handled; and cockades were eagerly assumed with the inscription LIBERTY, PROPERTY, AND NO EXCISE! But amidst the general joy their ill-humour against the Minister gradually evaporated, or rather spent itself by its own force; and their loyalty was immediately afterwards confirmed and quickened by the welcome intelligence that the Princess Anne, the King's eldest daugh ter, was espoused to the young Prince of Orange. This meeting is recorded by the respectable authority of Mr. White, M. P. for Retford, a supporter of Sir Robert. (Coxe's Walpole, vol. i. p. 404.) 1733. 66 - CHAP. Walpole congratulated himself on this new turn, XVI. given to the public feeling, and determined to run no risk of stirring it once more against him. It was, indeed, his favourite maxim at all times, as his son assures us, QUIETA NE MOVEAS- a maxim bad under a bad constitution, but surely good under a good one-a maxim to be shunned at Milan, to be followed in London. When, in the next session, Pulteney insinuated that the Excise scheme was to be revived, "As to the wicked scheme," said Walpole, ' as the honourable gentleman was pleased to "call it, which he would persuade us is not yet "laid aside, I, for my own part, can assure this "House I am not so mad as ever again to engage "in any thing that looks like an excise, though, "in my own private opinion, I still think it was "a scheme that would have tended very much to "the interest of the nation." * It is very remarkable, however, that, after his time, some of the least popular clauses of the Excise scheme were enacted, and that there was no renewal of clamour, because there was a change of title. So little do things weigh with the multitude, and names so much! The conduct of Walpole in relinquishing, and declaring that he would never renew, his scheme, though it has not escaped censure in present timest, seems, on the contrary, highly deserving • Parl. Hist. vol. ix. p. 254. An attempt was made that year' to celebrate the anniversary of the 11th of April, with fresh bonfires and rejoicings, but it seems to have only succeeded in London. See Boyer's Polit. State, vol. xlvii. p. 437. + Edinburgh Review, No. cxvii. p. 245. XVI/ 1733. of praise. It is true that he might still possess the CHAP power to carry the Bill by a small majority. It is true that the Bill would have been beneficial to the people. But to strive for the people's good in the very face of all their wishes and opinions, is a policy doubtful even in despotic governments, but subversive of a free one.-The next step of Walpole, however, is by no means to be approved. It was to seek out, and to punish, the murmurs in his own Cabinet. Surely, having yielded to the repugnance of the nation, Walpole might have forgiven the repugnance of his colleagues. Was it just that vengeance should survive when the scheme itself had fallen; or was it wise to thrust out statesmen into opposition, with the popular words NO EXCISE inscribed upon their banners? Walpole found that a knot of powerful peers, holding offices under the Crown, had, some whispered, others openly avowed, their dislike to the Excise Bill. At their head was Chesterfield, who had greatly risen in public favour, from the skill and the success of his Dutch negotiations. " I "shall come over," he writes from the Hague, "well prepared to suffer with patience, for I am "now in the school of patience, here; and I find "treating with about two hundred sovereigns of "different tempers and professions, is as laborious as treating with one fine woman, who is at least "of two hundred minds in one day!" ** On his * Lord Chesterfield to Dr. Arbuthnot, April 20. 1731: from Dr. Hunter's MS. collection.. XVI. .. 1733. CHAP. return, Chesterfield became Lord Steward of the Household, and in Parliament, a frequent and admired speaker; but did not display all the patience he had promised, when he found the whole power of the state monopolised by Walpole. The excise scheme appeared a favourable opportunity for Chesterfield to claim a share. His three brothers in the House of Commons voted against the Bill, and some sarcasms upon it were ascribed to himself. Yet it was generally thought by the public that the Minister would scarcely choose to dismiss abruptly a man of so much ability and influence; and it was even doubted, whether the King's confidence in Walpole still stood unimpaired. The public was soon undeceived. The Bill had been dropped on the 11th of April; on the 13th, as Chesterfield was going up the great staircase of St. James's Palace, he was stopped by an attendant, and summoned home to surrender the White Staff.* At the same time were dismissed, as being leagued with him, Lord Clinton, a Lord of the Bedchamber, the Earl of Burlington, Captain of the Band of Pensioners, and three northern peers, who enjoyed lucrative sinecures in Scotland, the Duke of Montrose and the Earls of Marchmont and Stair. Nay, more; the Duke of Bolton and Lord Cobham, holding not offices in the Court, but commissions in the army, were deprived of their regiments on no other ground, and by an unjustifiable stretch of the prerogative. Thus was the King's unabated * Maty's Life, p. 125. |