XVII.

1737.

CHAP. Polwarth, son of the Scotch Earl of Marchmont, a young nobleman beginning to shine in the foremost ranks of Opposition; nor was the more experienced skill of Barnard and of Wyndham wanting. The measure speedily grew, as it deserved, unpopular, and on one occasion, in committee, was carried only by the casting vote of the chairman. Under these circumstances, Walpole, who, we may presume, had never heartily approved of the most obnoxious clauses, wisely consented to recede from them one by one they were plucked out of the Bill, and it dwindled, at length, into an Act disabling Mr. Wilson from holding any future office, and imposing on the city a fine of 2,000l. for the benefit of Captain Porteous's widow. And thus, it was remarked at the time, all these fierce debates ended only in making the fortune of an old cookmaid such having been the original calling of the worthy lady.

A clause, however, was added to the Bill, compelling the ministers of the Scottish Church to read a proclamation from the pulpit, once every month for the ensuing twelve, calling on their congregations to exert themselves to bring to justice the murderers of Porteous. This order was greatly resented by many of the clergy, who complained that their pulpits were thus indecorously made the scene of a hue and cry; while others, again, finding the proclamation mention "the Lords Temporal "and Spiritual in Parliament assembled," feared that they might thus seem to acknowledge the

legality of Bishops; an order of men whom they CHAP. would seldom mention without insult and invective.

Another remarkable proceeding of this Session, was a plan to lower the interest of the National Debt by Sir John Barnard. From no one could it have come with greater weight. Were I called

upon to name the man who in that century most honourably filled, and most highly adorned, the character of a British merchant, I should, without hesitation, answer, Sir John Barnard. Industrious, not grasping, in his gains-liberal, not lavish, in his expenses religious without austerity, and charitable without ostentation neither unduly claiming kindred with the great, nor yet veiling a secret envy under an apparent disdain, he always maintained that calmness and self-command which is the essence of true dignity.* His speeches were, like himself, full of sterling worth if his language was not always the most eloquent, his arguments never failed to be the most weighty. "In all matters of trade," says Speaker Onslow," he had more sagacity, acuteness, force, "and closeness of reasoning, better and more prac❝ticable notions, than almost any man I ever knew, "with a disinterestedness as to himself that no

66

temptation of the greatest profit, or very high "stations (for such he might have had), would "have drawn him from the very retired and humble

Benjamin Constant, in his remarkable production, "Adolphe," most truly describes :-"je ne sais quelle fougue destructive "de la considération qui ne se compose que du calme.” (p. 173.)

XVII.

1737.

С НАР.
XVII.

1737.

"life he generally chose to lead, not only for the
"sake of his health, but the content of his mind,
"in a moderate habitation in a neighbouring village
"to London, from whence he only came as he was
"occasionally called to any business of importance
"in the City or in Parliament; in the first of
"which he was a great magistrate, and in the other
"of true weight and influence."* As to the latter,
indeed, another remarkable testimony was once
borne by the very minister whom he so keenly and
steadily opposed. We are told that, as Sir Robert
Walpole was one day riding with some friends in a
narrow lane, persons were overheard talking on
the other side of the hedge. "Whose voice is
"that?" asked one of the party.
"Do not you
"know?" replied Sir Robert. "It is one which
"I never shall forget. I have often felt its power!"
It was Sir John Barnard's.

The project of Sir John Barnard was, briefly, to
borrow money at three per cent., and redeem some
of the annuities for which a higher rate was yearly
paid. But several solid and many specious argu-
ments against it were urged by Walpole.
"If we

"advert," said he, "to the time and manner in "which these debts were created, every argument

66

against the reduction of interest acquires a great "additional force. At that disastrous period "(1720), the creditors of the South Sea and East "India Companies had a power to demand the

*Speaker Onslow's Remarks. (Coxe's Walpole, vol. ii. p. 565.)

66

XVII.

1737.

"whole amount of their bonds. Their forbear- CHA P. "ance was essentially necessary to the defence and well-being of the community; for, had they per"sisted in claiming their principal, the whole must "have fallen on the landed interest, or the result "must have been such as I dare not mention, or

66

hardly think of. And is the service then ren"dered to the country to be now repaid by a "compulsory reduction of their dividends? I call "it compulsory, for any reduction by terror can "only be described by that name." - The country gentlemen were in general eager for Barnard's plan; and it was not without much adroitness and several Parliamentary manœuvres on the part of the minister, that it was at length rejected by a large majority.

But the principal hopes of the Opposition in this year rested on Frederick Prince of Wales, whose secret encouragement had now ripened into open support. His disagreements with his father were by no means of recent date. Even whilst he remained at Hanover, and whilst his father, as Prince of Wales, had gone to England, they were near enough to bicker. His own wishes were strongly fixed on an alliance with the Princess Royal of Prussia, the same who afterwards became Margravine of Bareith, and who, in her Memoirs, has left us a strange, and probably exaggerated, portrait of all her own relations. The marriage was earnestly desired by the Queen of Prussia, and, indeed, by the chief members of both families; but the

XVII.

1737.

CHAP. brutal temper of the King, who used to beat his daughter, and who wished to behead his son*, and the personal antipathy between him and his cousin George the Second, finally broke off the negotiations. Prince Frederick, in as much despair as a lover can be who has never seen his mistress, sent from Hanover one La Motte as his agent, to assure the Queen of Prussia that he was determined, in spite of his father, still to conclude the marriage, and that he would set off in disguise for Berlin to execute his purpose. But the Queen, in an overflowing transport of delight could not refrain from imparting the good news to the English envoy at her Court. He, as was his duty, gave timely notice to his own; the rash project was prevented † ; and the headstrong Prince was summoned to England, where, as I have already noticed, he arrived, to the great joy of the nation, in 1728.

For some years after his arrival, the Prince remained tranquil; but, as he became familiar with the English language and customs, and conscious of his own importance, he entered more and more into cabals against his parents. His character was weak, yet stubborn; with generous impulses, and not without accomplishments; but vain, fond of flattery, and easily led by flatterers. Even after his marriage, and whilst devoted to his wife, he thought it incumbent upon him to affect the cha

*Besides the Mémoires de Bareith, passim, see Lord Chesterfield's despatch to the Plenipotentiaries, September 15. 1730. Appendix.