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 SrOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQCJARE 
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 [.OKD CAETEBET 
 
 A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY 
 
 1690— 1763 
 
 BY 
 
 ARCHIBALD BALLACTYNE 
 
 LONDON 
 
 PJCHARI) Hl'JNTI.biY A SOX, NKW BURTJNGTON STRKK'I 
 ^ublisbcrs in ©rbinurn fo I)cr P^ajcstn tbc ^urcii 
 1887 
 
 .4// rights reserved
 
 LIBRARY 
 . UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 P ^ SANTA BARBARA 
 
 Boi 
 
 ' High above each in genius, lore, and fire. 
 With mind of muscles which no toil could tire, 
 With lips that seem'd like Homer's gods to quatf 
 From nectar-urns the unextinguish'd laugh, 
 Frank with the mirth of souls divinely strong, 
 Carteret's large presence floats from out the throng.' 
 
 Lord Lytton : St. Stcj^hen's.
 
 PEEFACE 
 
 The almost complete oblivion wliicli covers the career 
 of Lord Carteret is one of the curiosities of English 
 political and historical literature. Few names were 
 better known than his in the political world of his own 
 day ; no English statesman of his time had so wide a 
 European reputation. Posterity has exacted an ex- 
 as^s^erated re ventre ; for no first-rate statesman of the 
 modern epoch has failed so completely to secure a 
 place in its capricious memory. One still vaguely 
 recollects that Dr. Johnson disliked the word Carteret 
 when used as a dactyl ; one remembers a few para- 
 graphs of Macaulay's characteristic rhetoric, or two 
 or three of Horace Walpole's femininely exaggerated 
 anecdotes. But Carteret himself and his fifty years of 
 public life are practicall}' forgotten. With one excep- 
 tion, the modern historians of the times in which he 
 lived have not cared to make more than mere passing 
 and second-hand allusion to him ; and the one excep- 
 tion — Carlyle in his Frederick the Great — is concerned 
 with only two or tlirce years and one or two incidents 
 of Carteret's career. The other writers, when Carteret 
 comes in the way of their historical narrative, either
 
 viii PBEFACE 
 
 dismiss liim in a few lines of conventionally balanced 
 epitliets, or sketch a ligure so full of distortions and 
 contradictions as to be a mere fantastic impossibility. 
 
 It is exceedingly easy to forget many of the men 
 who played a political part in England under the first 
 two Georges. Wilmington, who was actually Prime 
 Minister for a year or so, is now not even the shadow 
 of a name. No one willingly would remember Chan- 
 cellor of the Exchequer Sandys, or Bubb Dodington, or 
 Sir Thomas Robinson. Henry Pelham was a respectable 
 but uninteresting mediocrity. To his brother the Duke 
 of Newcastle an amused posterity has indeed almost 
 gratefully granted a unique fame as the most curiously 
 ridiculous being Avho ever took a leading part in public 
 affairs, the most foolish as well as the falsest of politicians, 
 the most imbecile even of political Dukes. But it seems 
 a pity that Carteret's name should be added to this 
 dreary and uninviting list of extinct reputations. Eor 
 Carteret was the most brilliant man of affairs of his 
 tiiue, equally conspicuous for bright genius and for 
 homely, practical common-sense. He was an accom- 
 plished classical scholar ; an easy master of European 
 languages ; completely at home in history, law, litera- 
 ture ; tlie friend of Berkeley, Bentley, Addison, Gay, 
 Pope ; the chosen personal though not political friend 
 of Swift ; a generous, competent patron of men of 
 letters ; full of frankness and ease and good-nature, so 
 that even his political enemies could not hate him ; yet 
 always dignified and refined and commanding. ' I feel 
 a pride,' the Earl of Chatham once said in the House of 
 Lords, long after Carteret was dead, ' in declaring that
 
 PEE FACE ix 
 
 to his patronage, to Lis friendship and instruction I owe 
 whatever I am.' Horace Walpole reckoned that in all 
 his life he had seen only five great men, and that the 
 greatest genius of the five was Carteret. Chesterfield 
 was by no means inclined to an indulgent estimate of 
 Carteret ; yet in the last days of Carteret's life Chester- 
 field wrote to his son : ' Lord Granville [Carteret] they 
 say is dying. When he dies, the ablest head in England 
 dies too, take it for all in all.' ' Since Granville was 
 turned out,' wrote '^moWQii'iw Humphrey Clinker, ' there 
 has been no minister in this nation worth the meal that 
 whitened his periwig.' To Dr. Johnson doubtless Car- 
 teret was one of those vile Whigs of whom the Devil 
 was the first ; yet Johnson's recognitions of Carteret are 
 generous enough ; wdiile Swift, also removed from Car- 
 teret in political opinion, was his intimate personal 
 friend, and repeatedly expresses his admiration for his 
 character, learning, and genius. Among later writers, 
 Carlyle, though always very reserved in his estimates of 
 eighteenth-century men, is quite unstinted in his appre- 
 ciation of Carteret. He groups him among the Freder- 
 icks, the Voltaires, the Chathams, as one of the not too 
 numerous men of his time in whom there was ' an 
 effective stroke of work, a fine fire of heroic pride ; ' 
 and in the impersonal way in which he reveals his own 
 opinions, Carlyle speaks of Carteret as ' thouglit by some 
 to be, with the one exception of Lord Chatham, t]ic 
 wisest Foreign Secretary we ever had.' Yet the states- 
 man who is thus praised by men who do not praise 
 lightly is now unremembered ; the very books of re- 
 ference are in a conspiracy of silence about him ; and
 
 X PEE FACE 
 
 the present is the first attempt wliicli lias been made 
 to give any complete and connected account of his 
 career. 
 
 It therefore seems desirable to make some slight 
 reference to the chief printed and manuscript authori- 
 ties on which the following pages are mainly based. To 
 draw up a list which should include the many epheme- 
 ral and obsolete productions which have been consulted 
 would be absurd. Of special value are the Works of 
 Horace Walpole, particularly his Correspondence and 
 his Last Ten Years of the Rei2:n of Georo-e II. ; but 
 Horace Walpole, especially when he is dealing with 
 personal questions, must always be used with care. In 
 the Works of Swift, Carteret's intimate friend, there are 
 some few letters from and to Carteret ; but most of the 
 correspondence between the two men must be either 
 imprinted or lost. Carteret is, however, the subject of 
 one of Swift's ironically humorous pamphlets. Arch- 
 deacon Coxe's voluminous and chaotic Memoirs of Sir 
 Robert Walpole and of the Pelhanis are absolutely 
 valueless from the literary point of view ; but they are 
 essential to a knowledge of Carteret's time because of 
 the orifjinal material to which Coxe had access. The 
 same distressing writer's Memoirs of Sir Robert's less- 
 known l:)rother Horatio {old Horace as he is generally 
 called, to distinguish him from his nephew Horace 
 the letter- writer) have some slight concern with Carteret 
 and liib fortunes. Lord Shelburne's Autobiography (in 
 Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice's Life of Shelburne) contains 
 some curious and interesting particulars ; and Lord 
 Hervey's Memoirs of the Reign of George II. are of
 
 PEE FACE xi 
 
 course indispensable, tliougli Hervey can seldom spare a 
 good word for any opponent of Walpole. Earl Walde- 
 grave's Memoirs, the Earl of Marchmont's Diary, and 
 the Marchmont Papers are also useful. And fur- 
 ther may be mentioned : The Parliamentary History ; 
 the Works of Chesterfield ; Sir E. J. Pliillimore's Memoirs 
 of Lord Lyttelton ; Harris's Life of Lord Chancellor 
 Hardwicke ; J. M. Graham's Annals and Correspondence 
 of the Earls of Stair ; Sheridan's Life of Swift ; the 
 Letters of the Irish Primate, Hugh Boulter; and Mrs. 
 Delany's Autobiography and Correspondence. 
 
 Of unpublished materials, the Carteret Papers in 
 the British Museum are essential for a real knowledge 
 of Carteret's political life. These Papers consist of 
 thirty-four volumes, and are numbered Additional MSS. 
 22,511-22,545. They contain Carteret's official corre- 
 spondence during the various periods for which he held 
 office between 1719 and 1744. The}^ are full on all 
 points of his public policy, but have hardly any private 
 or personal details. The voluminous set of manuscripts 
 known as Coxe's Collections offers a good deal of wel- 
 come assistance, and is specially useful for part of 
 the time during which Carteret was Lord-Lieutenant of 
 Ireland. The Manuscripts at the Record Office supply 
 some of the defects of the British Museum Collections 
 for this special period. Scattered letters from and to 
 Carteret, and letters containing facts and criticisms con- 
 cerning him, are to be found in almost countless volumes 
 of the Museum's Additional and Egerton Manuscripts, 
 Eeferences to the more important of these are given in 
 their places ; it is impossible to specify them all.
 
 xii PBEFACE 
 
 It only remains to add that tlie cliief object of tlie 
 present biograpliy is not to tlirow any fresli light on the 
 general history of the times in which Carteret lived, 
 but, so far as it is possible now to do so, to recover 
 from a really undeserved forgetfulness some idea of 
 Carteret himself, and of a character and a career which 
 only a few names in modern English politics exceed in 
 interest and in varied attractiveness. 
 
 A. B.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 chaptfR page 
 
 I. EABLY LIFE AND WORK IN PARLIAMENT (ifiOO- I'lC) . 1 
 
 II. DIPLOMACY (1717-1719) 29 
 
 III. SECRETARY OF STATE (1721-1724) .... 65 
 
 IV. LORD-LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND (1 724-1 73(>) . . 103 
 
 V. OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE : HOME AFFAIRS ( 1730-1 737) 146 
 
 VI. OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE : FOREIGN AFFAIRS (l733- 
 
 1742) 190 
 
 VII. POWER (1742-1744) 238 
 
 VIII. GRANVILLE AND THE PELHAMS ( 1744-1754) . . 307 
 
 IX. LAST YEARS (1754-1763) 332 
 
 X. PRIVATE LIFE ; PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS . . 366 
 
 INDEX 
 
 . 415
 
 LOED CAETEEET. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EAELY LIFE AiN'D WORK IN PARLIAMENT. 
 1690-1716. 
 
 John, Loed Carteret, Earl Granville, was descended 
 from two noble and ancient families, each of which had 
 on various occasions risen to hii^h distinction in the 
 political history of England. The Carterets and the 
 Granvilles were both Norman houses ; the towns of 
 Granville and Carteret still commemorate their names 
 in Normandy. The Carterets, some of them accom- 
 panying their Norman duke into England, and all of 
 them, in the troubled times that followed, remainino; 
 faithful to the newly established line of kings in Eng- 
 land, gradually lost their Norman possessions on the 
 mainland, and settled chiefly in the largest of the 
 Channel Islands, almost within sight of their old home. 
 They became the commanding family in Jersey, where 
 part of their principal seat, the manor house of St. 
 Ouen, may still be seen ; and many romantic as well as 
 historical tales are told of their life and exploits there. 
 Romance, perhaps, has played its accustomed part in 
 giving picturesque embellishment to some of the family 
 annals. But the unadorned facts of the Carterets' 
 
 B
 
 2 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 actual history have nothing prosaic about them. Their 
 loyalty was very conspicuous. George III. was not 
 using the language of exaggerated compliment when he 
 once said of a member of the Carteret house : ' This 
 young man belongs to one of the most ancient and 
 most loyal families in my dominions.' The never-falsi- 
 fied motto of the Carterets was Loyal devoir. They 
 kept Jersey out of the hands of Constable Bertrand du 
 Guesclin ; and eight Carterets, Eeginald de Carteret 
 and his seven sons, were knighted in one day by 
 Edward TIL for this feat. Over and over again they 
 foiled French attempts on the Channel Islands, and 
 received many royal recognitions of their bravery and 
 loyalty. Queen Elizabeth gave them the island of 
 Sark, and the practical governorship of Jersey was 
 frequently in their family. One of them was governor 
 there when Prynnc, who had attacked plays and 
 masques in his puritanical Histrio-mastix^ was im- 
 prisoned from 1637 to 1640 in Mont Orgueil Castle, 
 one of the two chief fortresses of Jersey. A terribly 
 gloomy cell in Mont Orgueil is still sJiown as the apart- 
 ment in wliich Prynne was confined ; but the dreariness 
 of his imprisonment was considerably lessened by tlie 
 kindness of Sir Philip Carteret and his family, whom 
 Prynne is never weary of thanking ' for all your love 
 and courtesy.' They often invited him to pass his time 
 with them, and it seems that Lady Carteret's irresistible 
 goodness occasionally seduced the stern pamphleteer to 
 an unpuritanical ganie of cards. Prynne wrote, in a 
 distressingly unpoetical manner, a metrical description 
 of the very picturesque fortress where his confinement 
 was thus pleasantly tempered, and dedicated his won- 
 derful rhymes to his ' ever honoured worthy friend, Sir 
 Philip Carteret,' and to Sir Pliilip's wife, Prynne's ' most
 
 EABLY LIFE AND WOBK IN PARLIAMENT 3 
 
 highly honoured, special kind friend, the truly virtuous 
 and religious Lady Anne Carteret.' Others of Prynne's 
 astonishing metrical productions were dedicated to the 
 daughters of his kindly custodians ; one of them to 
 
 Sweet mistress Douce, fair Margaret, 
 Prime flower of the house of Carteret. 
 
 General history, however, has dropped from its 
 memory the story of the career of the Carterets in the 
 Channel Islands ; and the very faint surviving recollec- 
 tion even of the name of the family is mainly due to 
 two such very dissimilar books as Pepys' Diary and 
 Lord Clarendon's History of the Rebellion. In these two 
 books the name of a Sir George Carteret is of very 
 frequent recurrence. This Sir George Carteret, almost 
 more royalist than the King, was prominently connected 
 with the two unhappy Charleses who were successive 
 Stuart sovereigns of England. When the civil war 
 broke out, the parliament desired to give to Carteret, 
 who was controller of the navy, the position of vice- 
 admiral. He thought it his duty first to ask the Kino-'s 
 consent, and Charles, who reckoned his fleet as o-ood as 
 lost to him, ordered Carteret to decline. A mistake on 
 the King's part, thought Clarendon and many others ; 
 for, if Carteret had been permitted to accept the 
 appointment, it was commonly believed that he would 
 have kept the greater part of the fleet true to the King, 
 — ' his interest and reputation in the navy was so great, 
 and his diligence and dexterity in command so emi- 
 nent.' ^ Carteret retired to his Jersey home to raise 
 forces for his master ; and his energetic proceedings 
 there and in the Channel so exasperated the j^arlia- 
 mentary authorities that in all the fruitless peace 
 
 J Clarendon's Hist, of the Rebellion, TIL IIG. Ed. Oxford, 1826.
 
 4 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 negotiations Carteret's name was in the list of those 
 for whom there could be no pardon. When in April 
 1646 the boy Prince of Wales, insecure even in the 
 Scilly Islands, wandered as far as Jersey for safety, 
 Sir George Carteret gladly entertained him in Elizabeth 
 Castle, where Charles, hardly yet sixteen years old, held 
 levees and dined in state, proving himself already a 
 proficient in the art of obtaining popularity ; for, says 
 the old Jersey chronicler, cetoit un prince grandement 
 henin. Sir George Carteret got him a pleasure-boat 
 from St. Malo, and the Prince spent hours in steering 
 about the island-bays, but never venturing beyond 
 range of the Castle guns. He stayed more than two 
 months in Elizabeth Castle, and before taking leave of 
 his host created him a baronet ; having already per- 
 sonally confirmed the knighthood which Charles I. had 
 only been able to bestow on Carteret by patent. Some 
 of the Prince's exceedingly numerous retinue remained 
 behind in Jersey when Charles himself left to go to his 
 mother in Paris ; among these being the Chancellor of 
 the Exchequer, Edward Hyde, who stayed in the island 
 for two years longer. While Charles had been living 
 in the fortress with Sir George Carteret, Hyde's quarters 
 had been in the town of St. Helier's, from which at 
 high water Elizabetli Castle was entirely cut off. In 
 the evenings, when the tide was low, Hyde and the two 
 or three English friends who were with him walked 
 regularly upon the sands instead of supping, and often 
 found their way to the Castle and Sir George Carteret, 
 who received them always with unbounded kindness. 
 When the departure of liis friends left the Chancellor 
 somewhat solitary, Sir George Carteret invited Hyde to 
 leave the town altogether, and come to him in Ehzabeth 
 Castle. Hyde gladly agreed, and stayed in the Castle
 
 EABLY LIFE AND WORK IN PARLIAMENT 5 
 
 for two years ; quietly busy, seldom for less than ten 
 hours in the day, with his books and his history ; 
 amusing himself in spare moments with the cultivation 
 of a minute garden of his own creation, and enjoying, 
 as he himself used to say, the greatest tranquillity of 
 mind imaginable. In his own words, he ' remained 
 there, to his wonderful contentment, in the very cheer- 
 ful society of Sir George Carteret and his lady, in whose 
 house he received all the liberty and entertainment he 
 could have expected from his own family ; of which he 
 always entertained so just a memory, that there was 
 never any intermission or decay of that friendship he 
 then made.' ^ 
 
 When Charles I. was executed. Sir George Carteret 
 at once proclaimed King Charles II. in the Channel 
 Islands, and the new nominal King, greatly perplexed 
 where to find a safe refuge, remembered Carteret and 
 his former quiet security in Jersey. Accompanied 
 this time by his brother, the Duke of York, Charles 
 once more arrived in the island in September 1649 ; 
 and in that same year made to Carteret one of his too 
 facile promises, though in this instance his word was 
 very fairly kept. He wrote to Carteret : — 
 
 ' I will add this to you under my own hand, that I 
 can never forget the good services you have done to my 
 father and to me, and if God bless me [which He did 
 not] you shall find I do remember them to the advan- 
 tage of you and yours ; and for this you have the word 
 of your very loving friend, 
 
 .' Charles E.' ^ 
 
 This six months' residence with Carteret in Jersey 
 
 > Clarendon's Life, I. 207-208. Ed. Oxford, 1857. 
 2 Brit. Museum, Add. MSS. 27,402 : fol. 124.
 
 6 LOBD CARTEBET 
 
 seems to liave been one of the pleasanter episodes of 
 Charles's futile existence. Carteret managed affairs, 
 while the prince-king devoted himself to amusements. 
 He yachted round about the island, rambled with dogs 
 and guns after wild fowl, enjoying such quiet hospitality 
 as the families of the island could offer, and making 
 himself very popular among the people by his easy affa- 
 bility. Banquets and other entertainments were fre- 
 quent at Elizabeth Castle, and diaries spent his time in 
 busy idleness, solaced by the talk and ways of his French 
 dwarf, and encouraging that mischievous little jester in 
 the congenial performance of practical jokes. The only 
 royal duty which the islanders exacted from their King 
 was to touch them for the king's evil. Before leaving 
 in February 1650, to start on his ten years' wanderings, 
 Charles made Sir George Carteret treasurer of his navy ; 
 a rather barren honour at that time, for such navy as 
 Charles had consisted mainly of the fleet of privateers 
 which Carteret himself had got tos^ether. But ten 
 years later this distinction, and many others, became 
 real enough for Carteret. 
 
 If his royal navy was rather phantasmal to Charles, 
 Carteret's frigates were exceedingly real to Cromwell. 
 The Protector now interfered in earnest, resolved to end 
 tliese spirited royalist proceedings in the Channel 
 Islands. In the closing months of 1651 a parliamentary 
 army was landed in Jersey, and one by one the island 
 fortresses were compelled to yield. Still Sir George 
 Carteret was undaunted and shut himself up in Eliza- 
 beth Castle witli a garrison of 340 men. He hoped that 
 of all the royal strongholds in the kingdom Elizabeth 
 Castle miglit be the last to surrender to the Parhament. 
 For three months he was besieged, the enemy making 
 little or no impression upon him, till they brouglit
 
 EABLY LIFE AND WORK IN PAELIAMENT 7 
 
 artillery far more powerful tlian anything that had yet 
 been seen there, and from a neighbouring height poured 
 down into the castle what Clarendon calls ' granadoes of 
 a vast bicfness,' and forced Carteret to submit. His 
 little garrison surrendered in December 1651, but his 
 ambition had been realised. He and his men were 
 allowed honourable departure, and Carteret set out on 
 European travels, to find his way at last to his roaming 
 Kinj? in Holland. 
 
 The Eestoration ended the wanderings of these two, 
 and established Carteret's fortunes. He rode into 
 London on Eestoration Day with the King, and honours 
 and official appointments were abundantly awarded him. 
 Politically the most important of the various posts 
 which he held was the Treasurership of the Navy ; 
 and thus Pepys, a young subordinate at the Admiralty, 
 was brought into very frequent intercourse with Carteret 
 and received much personal kindness from him. Many 
 pleasant allusions to the Carteret family occur in the 
 garrulous gossiping of the Diary. Sir George and 
 his wife, who also was his cousin and a Carteret, were 
 both very good to the young Clerk of the Acts ; and 
 Pepys was not ungrateful, while he also was shrewd 
 enough to put a high value on so desirable a 
 friendship. ' I find,' Pepys writes of Sir George 
 Carteret, ' that he do single me out to join with 
 me apart from the rest, which I am much glad of.' 
 Lady Carteret, tliought Pepys, was ' the most kind lady 
 in the world,' and her daughters' friendly cheerfulness 
 often delighted him and made him ' mighty merry.' 
 Enthusiastic Pepys was really sorry when at times his 
 most kind lady in the world looked around her with a 
 somewhat dejected anxiety, ' and I do comfort her as 
 much as I can, for she is a noble lady.' But things
 
 8 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 were generally bright in that household, and Pepys 
 enjoyed its unstinted hospitality. The conversation 
 current in the house of one who, like Sir George 
 Carteret, after very varied experience of men and 
 manners, was now in the centre of English political life, 
 was also much to Pepys' taste ; and perhaps the Carte- 
 rets themselves at times found a passing amusement in 
 slightly mystifying the innocent credulity of their fre- 
 quent guest. But this was rare, and Pepys heartily 
 conojratulated himself on what he tliouf^ht the reallv 
 extraordinary goodw^ill and kindness witli which the 
 influential family treated him. ' Most extraordinary 
 people they are,' he wrote, ' to continue friendship 
 with, for goodness, virtue, and nobleness, and interest.' 
 Pep3^s too introduces the next in the family line. 
 Sir George Carteret's eldest son, Philip ; but is only 
 particular over one episode in his career. This Sir 
 Philip Carteret had, like his father, fought bravely in 
 the Civil War, and had been knighted by Charles II. 
 in Jersey. With all that Pepys had nothing to do ; 
 but when Sir Philip came to be married to the 
 daughter of the Earl of Sandwich, the bustling import- 
 ance of the diarist was quite in its element. To Sir 
 Philip Carteret the necessary preliminaries of marriage 
 were a nuich more difficult business than fighting, and 
 he was glad to have Pepys to advise and instruct him 
 in the usual formalities. Pepys found him a very 
 modest man, ' of mighty good nature and pretty under- 
 standing ; ' but he was far readier to give Pepys an 
 account of the sea fights with the Dutch than to be con- 
 versationally enthusiastic over his own private prospects. 
 But if Sir Philip was somewhat backward, the other 
 members of the two families chiefly concerned were 
 extremely interested in the affair. Lady Carteret could
 
 EABLY LIFE AND WOBK IN PARLIAMENT 9 
 
 not do enough for Lady Jemima Montagu. ' But Lord ! ' 
 says Pepys, with his usual exclamation, ' to see how 
 kind my Lady Carteret is to her ! Sends her most 
 rich jewels, and j^rovides bedding and things of all 
 sorts most richly for her ; which makes my Lady 
 [Sandwich] and me out of our wits almost to see the 
 kindness she treats us all with, as if they would buy the 
 young lady.' Pepys accompanied Sir Philip Carteret 
 on his first formal visit to Lady Jemima, and was 
 considerably surprised by liis friend's unromantic pro- 
 ceedings. ' But Lord ! what silly discourse we had as 
 to ]ove-matters, he being the most awkward man ever 
 I met with in my hfe as to that business ! ' Neither 
 before nor after supper had the gentleman a word for 
 the lady, whom indeed he afterwards told Pepys that he 
 liked mightily ; ' but Lord ! in the dullest insipid man- 
 ner that ever lover did.' The second day of their visit 
 was a Sunday, and Sir Philip was to take Lady Jemima 
 to church. Pepys was minute in his previous instruc- 
 tions ; told Sir Philip what compliments he was to pay, 
 how he was to lead the lady by the hand, and generally 
 make the best use of his happy opportunities. Still the 
 terribly timid wooer was not very successful ; but did 
 better in the afternoon, when the company considerately 
 left the two by themselves, ' and a little pretty daughter 
 of my Lady Wright's most innocently came out after- 
 wards, and shut the door to, as if she had done it, poor 
 child, by inspiration : which made us without have 
 good sport to laugh at.' Before the two days' visit was 
 over, Pepys, who was himself distantly connected with 
 the Sandwich family, took Lady Jemima apart, and tried 
 to discover her feelings. ' She blushed, and hid her face 
 awhile; but at last I forced her to tell me. She an- 
 swered that she could readily obey wdiat her father and
 
 10 LORD CARTERET 
 
 mother liad done ; which was all slie could say, or I 
 expect. So anon took leave, and for London. In our 
 way Mr. Carteret did give me mighty thanks for my 
 care and pains for him, and is mightily pleased.' Thus 
 with the minimum of demonstration, at least before third 
 parties, Sir Pliilip Carteret got a wife, who also seems to 
 have been of a pleasant gravity by nature ; and the 
 sober and refined merriment of their wedding entertain- 
 ment struck Pepys, who was present in his finest clothes, 
 as the most delightful thing in the world. 
 
 Sir Philip Carteret's career was honourably cut short. 
 Fighting against the Dutch in Southwold Bay in 1 672, 
 he was drowned, along with his father-in-law. He 
 might, like many others, have left the ship ; but he 
 refused to desert the Earl of Sandwich. Of the short 
 life of his eldest son, almost nothing can be told. He 
 was born in 1667, and when only fifteen years old 
 was inade a peer, with the style of Baron Carteret of 
 Hawnes, in Bedfordshire. Charles had intended a 
 similar honour for Sir George Carteret, but death had 
 interfered ; and now this early peerage was granted to 
 Sir Philip's son as some acknowledgment of the dis- 
 tinguished services of his father and his grandfather. 
 But George, this first Lord Carteret, did not live long 
 enough to take any part in public affairs or to associate 
 his name with history. He died at the age of twenty- 
 six, having by his marriage united his family with that 
 of the Granvilles, and leaving behind him an eldest son, 
 John, the famous English statesman of the eighteenth 
 century. 
 
 The Granvilles, like tlie Carterets, were an ancient 
 Norman family, and traced their origin, in unbroken 
 line of honourable descent, back to Duke Eollo of Nor- 
 mandy. Like the Carterets, also, the Granvilles had
 
 EABLY LIFE AND WORK IN PABLIAMENT 11 
 
 been conspicuous for bravery and patriotism, and had 
 written their names on many pages of EngUsh history. 
 One of the lieroes of their house was the famous Sir 
 Eichard Grenville, whose single-handed battle in the 
 little Revenge against a Spanish fleet of fifty-three vessels 
 was the most wonderful fighting exploit of the Eliza- 
 bethan seamen. 'At Flores, in the Azores,' with a little 
 squadron of only six or seven ships, Lord Thomas Howard 
 and Sir Eichard Grenville found that the Spanish fleet 
 was close upon them. Howard, unable to fight, put to 
 sea. Grenville, who had many of his Devonshire men 
 sick on shore, waited to take them on board, and so was 
 left alone, separated from the rest of the small squadron. 
 The Spaniards soon surrounded him. From three 
 o'clock in the afternoon of the last day of August, 
 1591, till next day's dawn, he fifteen times repulsed the 
 whole Spanish fleet : — 
 
 And the sun went down, and the stars came out far over the 
 summer sea, 
 
 But never a moment ceased the fight of the one and the fifty- 
 three. 
 
 Ship after ship, the whole night long, their high-buih galleons 
 came, 
 
 Shif) after ship, the whole night long, with lier battle thunder 
 and flame ; 
 
 Ship after ship, the whole night long, drew back with her dead 
 and her shame. 
 
 For some were sunk and many were shatter'd, and so could 
 fight us no more 
 
 God of battles, was ever a battle like this in the world before ? • 
 
 Grenville fought on, covered with wounds, till the little 
 Revenge ^yas a helpless rolling hulk, Eather tlia.n jdeld 
 to Spain, he Avished to send himself, men, and ship to 
 
 ^ Tennyson : The Hevenge.
 
 12 LOBD CARTEBET 
 
 the bottom ; but the crew would not, and tlie one 
 Englisli ship struck to the Spanish fifty-three. Gren- 
 ville died on board the Spanish fleet three days after 
 his wonderful fight ; and his dying words are his best 
 memorial : ' Here die I, Eichard Grenville, with a joy- 
 ful and quiet mind ; for that I have ended my life as a 
 true soldier ought to do, fighting for his country, queen, 
 religion and honour : my soul willingly departing from 
 this body, leaving behind tlie lasting fame of having 
 behaved as every valiant soldier is in duty bound 
 to do.' 
 
 Grandson of this far-famed Sir Eichard was the 
 almost equally renowned Sir Bevil Granville, whose 
 death in the battle of Lansdowne deprived the Eoyalists 
 of all rejoicing in their victory. Where, asked exag- 
 gerative eulogy on the death of Sir Bevil — 
 
 Where shall the next famed Granville's ashes stand ? 
 Thy grandsire's fill the sea, and thine the land. 
 
 Like all his family, Sir Bevil Granville was a devoted 
 royahst; and, had he lived, he would have enjoyed 
 such honours as his King could have given him. A 
 letter of thanks from Charles I. Avas in Granville's 
 pocket when he fell, and with it the patent which ap- 
 pointed him Earl of Bath. Tlie honour passed to Sir 
 Bevil's son, who indeed was loaded with dignities ; being 
 by birth Sir John Granville, and by position in the 
 peerage tlie first Earl of Bath, Viscount Lansdowne, and 
 Baron Granville. If it had been possible, this Sir John 
 Granville would have excelled his father in devotion to 
 the cause of the Stuarts. He was commanding in the 
 Scillj^ Islands wlien lie heard of the execution of the 
 King. With passionate indignation he immediately 
 proclaimed King Charles II., as Sir George Carteret did
 
 EABLY LIFE AND WOBK IN PABLIAMENT 13 
 
 in Jersey. He could not find words hard enough for 
 Cromwell and the regicides. He wrote violently from 
 Scilly when he heard the astonishing news : — 
 
 ' The extraordinary ill news I have heard since my 
 being here concerning the horrid murder and treason 
 committed on the person of his most sacred majesty 
 has transported me with grief. ... I hope God will 
 revenge it on the heads of the damned authors and con- 
 trivers of it. . . .As soon as I was assured of this sad 
 truth, and had solemnly paid here our abundant griefs 
 in infinite tears, having commanded throughout these 
 islands a day of mourning and humihation for our most 
 fatal and incomparable loss, I thought it my particular 
 duty to proclaim his majesty tliat now is King.' ^ 
 
 In tiie negotiations which changed Charles H.'s 
 titular majesty into as real a one as so merely titular a 
 being as Charles could ever make it. Sir John Granville 
 had a prominent part. Through all the details of the 
 Eestoration he was deep in the confidence of Charles and 
 General Monk. He brought from Breda the royal letter 
 of easy promises, easy to make and easy to forget ; and 
 he received the public thanks of the House of Commons 
 on what naturally, but too deceptively, seemed the 
 happiest May-day that England had lately seen. He 
 obtained the peerage which death had denied to his 
 father, and his sisters were allowed to rank as Earl's 
 daughters. From children of ]iis there are still liv- 
 ing many highly distinguished descendants ; and his 
 youngest daughter, Grace, was mother of John Lord 
 Carteret. 
 
 George, first Lord Carteret, husband of Grace Gran- 
 ville, died at an early age in 1695. Their son John was 
 born on April 22, 1690 ; and he thus succeeded to the 
 
 1 Brit. Mus. Egerton MSS. 2,503 ; fol. 474, v".
 
 14 LORD GAETEBET 
 
 barony of Carteret when less than five years old. His school 
 hfe was passed at Westminster, a far more famous estab- 
 hshment then than in more recent times. Many of the 
 most distinguished Englishmen of the eighteenth century 
 had their earliest education at Westminster. The school 
 was especially prolific in bishops and statesmen. Sprat, 
 bishop of Eoch ester, used to thank God that he was a 
 bishop, though he had not been educated at Westminster. 
 Many of those who in later life were closely connected 
 with Carteret's political fortunes had been boys at the 
 same school as himself. Pulteney, who afterwards led 
 in the House of Commons the great opposition to Wal- 
 pole, of which in the House of Lords Carteret was him- 
 self the head; the Duke of Newcastle, as false as he was 
 foolish, whose treachery and imbecility were equally 
 disturbing factors in Carteret's political career ; Murray, 
 more famous as Lord Mansfield ; Hervey, famous or in- 
 famous as ' Sporus ' ; Prior and Atterbury, who touched 
 Carteret's life more lightly than these others, were all 
 Westminster boys. ' Pray, don't you think Westminster 
 School to be the best school in England ? ' bookseller 
 Lintot once asked Pope in 1714. 'Most of the late 
 Ministry came out of it ; so did many of this Ministry.' 
 Bentley, who was to be Carteret's intimate friend, became 
 Master of Trinity when Carteret was ten years old ; and 
 Bentley says that in the earlier years of his mastership 
 the Westminster scholars gained the greater number of 
 the fellowships. In Carteret's school-days the head 
 master was Thomas Knipe ; the second master, who soon 
 himself became the head, was the better known Dr. 
 Robert Friend, celebrated chiefly for his skill in classical 
 verse. His Sapphics, written on Carteret's younger 
 brother, a Westminster scholar who died when only 
 nineteen, were reckoned the most favourable specimen
 
 EABLY LIFE AND WORK IN PARLIAMENT 15 
 
 of his workmanship in elegant trifling, and have been 
 approved by later anthorities. 
 
 The connection of Westminster was specially close 
 with Christ Church and with Trinity College, Cambridge. 
 Carteret went to Christ Church. No details of his 
 university life are recoverable ; but it is possible dimly 
 to trace his friendship at ' the House ' with Lord Hatton 
 and with Edward Harley, only son of Queen Anne's 
 statesman. Carteret was at Oxford in 1709, the year 
 of the terrible Malplaquet battle ; and it was perhaps in 
 the long vacation of that or the following year, when 
 Anne dismissed the Whigs, and when Eobert Harley and 
 St. John became rival colleagues in power, that he wrote 
 from Longleat ' to Mr. Harley at Christ Church in 
 Oxford ' :— 
 
 ' I now write at a venture, for I am not sure this 
 will find you. I can never think that you are got 
 privately again to Christ Church whilst the affairs of 
 state are in such agitation ; and if you are not, I won't 
 advise you to go. I rather could wish that as you 
 imitate Apollo in some things, you would also imitate 
 
 his tree : — 
 
 Parnassia laurns 
 Parva sub ingenti matris se suhjicit umhra. 
 
 I need put no comment to enable you to decypher my 
 meaning. You'll pardon my making use of so rural an 
 image. Sometimes one may compare great tilings to 
 little without diminution.'^ 
 
 There are no details of Carteret's Oxford life ; but 
 
 1 Ilarleian MSS. 7,r)2;3 ; fol. 173. The only date is August IG. This 
 letter is printed in the Gentleman's Magazine for 1779, p. 28-3, and the date 
 1732 is there added. This is impossible ; for in 1732 'Mr. Harley' had for 
 eight years been Earl of Oxford. He had become Lord Harley in 1711, 
 and the letter must have been written before that. The right date is pro- 
 bably August 16, 1710 ; the year and month of the change of government.
 
 16 LOUD CABTEBET 
 
 he evidently did not make his residence the sinecure 
 which his patrician position would have allowed and 
 even encouraged. A nobleman at an English university 
 in the eighteenth century could practically do what he 
 liked, and many liked to do nothing. But Carteret 
 must have worked hard. When he was Lord-Lieutenant 
 of Ireland, his friend Swift, in a humorous vindication 
 of Carteret's political conduct, wrote of him that from 
 Oxford, ' with a singularity scarce to be justified, he 
 carried away more Greek, Latin, and philosophy, than 
 properly became a person of his rank ; indeed much 
 more of each than most of those who are forced to live 
 by their learning will be at the unnecessary pains to 
 load their heads with.'^ Li a letter to Carteret himself, 
 recommending Berkeley, who was about to publish a 
 little tract containing his whole scheme of a life ' aca- 
 demico-philosophical,' Swift adds in a parenthesis after 
 these two words : ' I shall make you remember what 
 you were.' No political enemy or anonymous libeller 
 ever ventured to dispute Carteret's learning ; and the 
 foundation of his lasting delight in the poetry, oratory, 
 and philosophy of the great classical authors was firmly 
 laid at Oxford. 
 
 From Oxford Carteret seems to have come at once 
 to London, and to have been received in the very best 
 circles which London in Queen Anne's days could offer. 
 With Swift, then in London on church business from 
 Ireland, Carteret commenced an intimate and life-long 
 friendship. Swift himself gives one or two glimpses of 
 this early period of Carteret's London life. Gravely 
 continuing liis ironical vindication. Swift has to admit 
 that Carteret, on his first appearance in the great world, 
 split upon the rock of learning. ' For, as soon as he 
 
 1 Swift's Works, VII. 284.
 
 EABLY LIFE AND WOBK IN PABLIAMENT 17 
 
 came to town, some bishops and clergymen, and other 
 persons most eminent for learning and parts, got him 
 among them.' From these distinguished friends, how- 
 ever, and from London itself, Carteret vanished for a 
 little time ; for, young as he was, he at once settled down 
 in life, marrying at Longleat on October 17, 1710, Lady 
 Frances Worsley, granddaughter of the first Viscount 
 Weymouth. Then he returned to town and to politics. 
 A few shght references to him in 1711 and 1712 occur 
 in Swift's Journal to Stella. Carteret sets down Prior 
 in his chariot ; and Prior, who could pun and not be 
 ashamed, thanks him for his 'charioty.' Twice Carteret 
 dines with the Secretary, St. John, when the very small 
 circle of guests was on each occasion entirely selected 
 by Swift. Swift himself jestingly exj)resses his high 
 opinion of Carteret, who was still a young man under 
 age. ' I will tell you,' writes Swift to Stella, ' a good 
 thing I said to my Lord Carteret. " So," says he, " my 
 
 Lord came up to me, and asked me, etc." " No," 
 
 said I, " my Lord never did, nor ever can come up to 
 
 you." We all pun here sometimes.' ^ For Lady Carteret 
 also, who was married before she was seventeen, Swift, 
 the intimate friend of her mother, had great respect 
 and admiration. A curious glimpse of social manners 
 in high life in the closing years of Queen Anne's reign 
 accidentally introduces Lady Carteret's name. Swift 
 was dining with Lady Betty Germaine, and among the 
 company were the young Earl of Berkeley and his 
 Countess. ' Lady Berkeley after dinner clapped my hat 
 on another lady's head, and she in roguery put it upon 
 
 ^ To Stella, Jan. 4, 1710-11. The best of all puns is connected with 
 Carteret and Swift. When Carteret was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and was 
 entertaining once at the Castle, a lady's impetuous mantle overset a Cremona 
 tiddle. Swift repeated to himself Virgil's line : — 
 
 Mantua vae miserae nimium vicina Cremonae. 
 
 c
 
 18 LORD CARTERET 
 
 the rails. I minded them not, but in two minutes they 
 called me to the window, and Lady Carteret showed me 
 my hat out of her window five doors off, where I was 
 forced to walk to it, and pay her and old Lady Wey- 
 mouth a visit.' ^ 
 
 Carteret took his seat in the House of Lords on May 
 25, 1711, a few weeks after he had attained his majority. 
 The previous year had produced a dramatically sudden 
 change in the state of English political affairs. From the 
 beginning of Anne's reign, and through the years made 
 eventful by Marlborough's victories, the fortunes of 
 the Whigs were aided by the success of Marlborough's 
 career. Marlborough was nominally, as Godolphin was 
 really, a Tory ; the first of Queen Anne's parliaments 
 had a Tory majority. Yet the Tory ministers found 
 themselves gradually looking for their chief support 
 to the Whigs. Godolphin and Marlborough practically 
 cared little about the differences of the Whig and Tory 
 party politics of their time. They put one question to 
 all political persons : Do you support the war or not ? 
 The High Tories frigidly answered. No ; the moderate 
 Tories did not profess any enthusiasm in the business. 
 It was a Whig war. King William's war ; the Tories had 
 little relish for a war against the chief supporter of the 
 House of Stuart. Naturally the extreme Tories began 
 to drop away from the ministry. Those of a milder 
 type still supported the Government ; and in 1704 Har- 
 ley and St. Jolm joined it. But the Wliigs were be- 
 coming its main defence. In 1705 Cowper, the finest 
 Whig orator in the Commons, was made Lord Chancellor, 
 and in 1706 the Whig Sunderland, Carteret's special 
 friend, became Secretary of State. But this union of 
 real Whigs and real and nominal Tories did not work 
 
 ^ Swift to Stella, June 6, 1711.
 
 EABLY LIFE AND WOBK IN PABLIAMENT 19 
 
 very well. Harley's cautiously intriguing nature very 
 soon proved dangerous. The Whigs commonly called 
 him the Trickster ; he was a master of backstairs cabal- 
 ling ; solemn, reserved, and mysterious. He carefully 
 worked on the one subject which most touched tlie 
 sluggishly feeble nature of the Queen. His measures, 
 privately supported by his relation, Abigail Hill, Sarah 
 of Marlborough's needy dependant and successful rival, 
 confirmed Anne's natural inclination to the Tories by 
 convincing her that under the Whigs the Church was 
 in danger. Gradually Anne withdrew her confidence 
 from her Whig ministers ; and Harley, thinking his 
 complete triumph sure, soon allowed himself to intrigue 
 and manoeuvre with very little attempt at concealment. 
 But an accident for a short time interrupted his plans. 
 In spite of his solemn seriousness and assumption of 
 mysterious profundity, he was incredibly careless in the 
 performance of business, and managed his office so 
 negligently that unscrupulous clerks found an 023portu- 
 nity of conveying secret information to the enemy. No 
 crime of this sort was proved against Harley personally ; 
 but Marlborough and Godolphin refused any longer to 
 act with him. Early in 1708 he was thus forced to 
 resign, and St. John resigned with him, being succeeded 
 as Secretary at War by his life-long opponent Walpole. 
 The general election of 1708 gave again a large Whig 
 majority, and the fortunes of the party seemed firmly 
 established. 
 
 But a dramatic change soon followed. Towards the 
 close of 1709, Sacheverell, an extremely insignificant 
 High Church clergyman, preached two foolishly ultra- 
 Tory sermons, and, borrowing a nickname from Ben 
 Jonson's famous play, alluded to Godolphin as Vol- 
 pone. Sacheverell was an unimportant, ignorant man, 
 
 c 2
 
 20 LOBD CABTERET 
 
 whose fatal stupidity was probably at times amusing ; 
 though it is hardly worth while to read his obsolete dis- 
 courses for the sole satisfaction of finding the simile 
 ' like parallel lines meeting in a common centre.' To 
 have treated him and his noisy Jacobitism with in- 
 different contempt would have been the wiser way ; but 
 Godolphin was irritated by the nickname, and in oppo- 
 sition to prudent advice resolved to prosecute him. 
 Sacheverell was convicted ; but the very light sentence 
 was reckoned as his practical victory, and a strong Tory 
 reaction followed the ill-advised trial. An impetus 
 was thus given to the desires and plans of the Queen, 
 Harley, and Mrs. Masham. Anne dismissed Sunderland, 
 and, though the Whigs remained for some months in 
 office, they were no longer in power. In August 1710 
 the Government fell ; Harley and St. John became the 
 leaders of the new Tory administration ; and the general 
 election of the same year gave to the Tory party an 
 ascendency as complete as it was ephemeral. 
 
 The new Government seemed to have a very firm 
 seat in power when Carteret entered the House of Lords 
 in May 1711. Carteret might naturally have been ex- 
 pected to join the Tories. His not very remote ancestors 
 had been almost passionate in their Stuart loyalty. He 
 had himself just come from the Tory and Jacobitical 
 influences of Christ Church and Oxford. His relative 
 George Granville, Lord Lansdown — Pope's ' Granville 
 the polite ' — was extreme in his devotion to the Tories, 
 and was actually Secretary at War in the new Govern- 
 ment. Swift was Carteret's personal friend, and was 
 definitely relinquishing the Whigs ; and friendship with 
 Swift had led to at least some intimacy with St. John. 
 But Carteret throughout his career never allowed politi- 
 cal considerations to interfere with his private friendships,
 
 EABLY LIFE AND WORK IN PARLIAMENT 21 
 
 and lie was not now inclined to the Tory party because 
 he was privately intimate with the Tory leaders. He 
 did not perhaps at the very first definitely attach him- 
 self to either of the pohtical parties. On some questions 
 of minor importance he seems to have voted with the 
 Court. But on the one domestic question of overpower- 
 ing interest in the closing years of Queen Anne's reign, 
 the question of the Protestant succession, Carteret un- 
 hesitatingly took his place among the Whigs. 
 
 The Whig party, when Carteret entered parhament, 
 was divided, though the dividing-line did not appear 
 very distinctly till George I. was on the throne. One 
 Whig section was then clearly seen to be headed by 
 Sunderland and Stanhope; another, by Walpole and his 
 brother-in-law, Townshend. The rivalries of these four 
 leaders were destined to end in open quarrels and 
 political changes ; but in 1711, when the Tories were 
 in overwhelming force, the Whigs could not very well 
 afford to quarrel among themselves. The more ad- 
 vanced and enhghtened section was that to which Stan- 
 hope and Sunderland belonged, and these were the two 
 statesmen with whom Carteret, in his earlier political 
 career, was most closely connected. Charles, Earl of 
 Sunderland, had proved the decisive triumph of the 
 Whig element in the Government by his appointment 
 as Secretary of State in 1706 ; and he was the first of 
 the Whigs whom Anne, after Sacheverell's trial, ven- 
 tured to dismiss. A man of strong temper and restlessly 
 vehement, he was considered in those days as being 
 even violent in Whiggism. Lord Shelburne wrote of 
 him : — 
 
 ' Lord Sunderland was not only the most intriguing, 
 but the most passionate man of his time. . . . Lord 
 Holland, speaking of those times, said he once asked
 
 22 LOBD   CABTEBET 
 
 Sir Eobert Walpole why he never came to an under- 
 standing with Lord Sunderland. He answered, "You 
 httle know Lord Sunderland. If I had so much as 
 hinted at it, his temper was so violent, that he would 
 have done his best to throw me out of the window.'* ' ^ 
 
 Stanhope's early reputation had been made in war, 
 the capture of Minorca in 1708 being his most notable 
 performance. He had no special fitness for parliamen- 
 tary management. The eager boldness which charac- 
 terised him on the military side became, when applied 
 to parliamentary affairs, a passionate impetuosity not 
 too safely suitable even for quiet times, and in every 
 way dangerous in the sudden storms of politics. He 
 was brave and incorrupt ; his knowledge of foreign 
 affairs was large ; but his chief distinction with posterity 
 rests on his advocacy of religious toleration. Here he 
 was much in advance of his time. He brought about 
 the repeal of the educational persecution known as the 
 Schism Act ; he would have liked, if he could, to have 
 modified the Test and Corporation Acts, and to have 
 offered some tolerance to Eoman Catholics and Dissenters. 
 That proved impossible, but the fault was not Stan- 
 hope's. 
 
 Stanhope and Sunderland were leaders in the cause 
 of the House of Hanover and the Protestant Succession. 
 On this matter Carteret fully shared their views, and 
 his first parliamentary work was concerned with this 
 much and angrily debated subject. In the last years 
 of Anne's reign, the political arrangement which had 
 been devised to secure the succession of a Protestant 
 sovereign seemed in considerable danger. In the 
 very year in which Carteret took his scat, a Jacobite 
 
 ^ Shelburne's Autohioyraplnj \ Lord E. Fitzmaurice's Shelburne, I. , 
 34-35.
 
 EABLY LIFE AND WOBK IN PARLIAMENT 23 
 
 agent wrote that if the Pretender would only land 
 with 10,000 men, not a sword would be drawn against 
 him. The Eoman Catholics, the landowners, the High 
 Churchmen were to a large extent Jacobite. Anne her- 
 self was more than suspected of no particular devotion 
 to the Act of Settlement and its favoured Hanoverians. 
 With hardly an exception, the leading statesmen of 
 her reign had been or were intriguers, or at least corre- 
 spondents, with St. Germains. On St. John, most of all, 
 Jacobite hopes were now confidently inclining to rest ; 
 St. John, who from the very formation of the Tory 
 ministry had been in eager rivalry with Harley, and as 
 Anne's reign drew towards its close was clearly getting 
 the better of him. It does not seem open to doubt 
 that if the Pretender could only have renounced his 
 Catholic religion, the immense majority of the people 
 would have declared for his succession. The ministry of 
 course insisted that there was no danger ; parliament 
 and the Government, in Avearisomely repeated debates, 
 asserted their attachment to the Protestant cause ; but 
 there was a great air of unreality and insincerity about 
 these formal periodical proceedings. One moment the 
 House of Commons declared its devotion to the Hano- 
 verian family ; the next, it ordered Sacheverell to preach 
 before it on Eestoration Hay. Eoyal speeches made the 
 most satisfactory professions ; but royal manners and 
 actions did not care to correspond too closely w^ith the 
 royal words. When in 171 B the House of Lords, a far 
 more liberal assembly than the House of Commons, 
 wished Anne to urge friendly governments altogether to 
 discountenance the Pretender, the Queen, not altogether 
 untruly, but not at all reassuringly, replied that the 
 best way to secure the Protestant succession would be 
 to cease from animosities at home. The Lords were
 
 24 LORD CABTERET 
 
 told in language of conventional politeness to mind their 
 own affairs. In such quarrelsome and contradictory cir- 
 cumstances, the general excitement increased daily ; for 
 the question was highly interesting then, though it is 
 extremely dull now. Steele in 1713 produced the Crisis, 
 a now unreadable pamphlet, in support of the House 
 of Hanover. Swift anonymously replied in his Public 
 Spirit of the Whigs, and severely attacked the Scotch 
 Union, which was reckoned a great security against 
 the schemes of the Jacobites. When the new parha- 
 raent met in March 1714, the addresses of both Houses 
 expressed entire confidence that the Protestant cause 
 was not in the slightest danger ; and having thus satis- 
 fied the demands of formality, parliament settled down 
 to furious debates on the subject. The Lords attacked 
 Swift for his pamphlet against the Whigs ; the Commons 
 kept the balance even by falling foul of Steele and ex- 
 pelling him from the House. 
 
 In 1714, in one of the numberless debates on this 
 interminable question, Carteret definitely took his place 
 with the Whigs. He was in the minority, for the Lords 
 at last voted that the Protestant succession was in no 
 danger ; but the majority was only twelve, the exact 
 number of the batch of recently created Tory peers, 
 whom Wharton on their appearance in the House un- 
 kindly asked if they meant to vote by their foreman. 
 The victory of the Government was a very poor one, 
 and the attack of the opposition was soon renewed. 
 Oxford put his hand on his heart and protested his 
 devotion to the Protestant cause ; but the general feeling 
 was so strong that Wharton barbarously proposed to ofier 
 a reward for the apprehension of the Pretender alive or 
 dead. This encouragement to murder was indeed re- 
 jected ; one peer, while protesting his affection to the
 
 EABLY LIFE AND WOBK IN PABLIAMENT 25 
 
 House of Hanover, declining to venture damnation for 
 them. The milder and reasonable proposal that a 
 reward should be offered for the arrest of James H. 
 if he should land or attempt to land in Great Britain 
 or Ireland was supported by Carteret. Anne at first 
 refused her consent, but the Government found itself 
 forced to yield, and issued the proclamation. 
 
 The angry debating and real danger were ended 
 in a dramatically sudden way. Three weeks after 
 Anne had prorogued this parliament, she died, in 
 August 1714, her illness aggravated by the bitter dis- 
 putes between her two rival ministers. Bolingbroke 
 had already triumphed so far as to obtain the dismissal 
 of Oxford, and was planning a cabinet of his own which 
 would really have been a Jacobite one ; but the Queen's 
 sudden death ruined all his plots. Two days before 
 she died, Anne appointed the Duke of Shrewsbury to 
 Oxford's vacant place, and the whole tendency of poli- 
 tical affairs was silently but decisively reversed. The 
 all-powerful Bolingbroke, bantered by the amused 
 mahce of fortune, was almost insultingly hurried out of 
 office, and all despatches addressed to him passed into the 
 novice hands of Addison. Not a Tory or Jacobite was 
 ready to move, and the Whigs quietly entered upon a 
 period of political power which lasted uninterruptedly 
 for almost half a century. 
 
 With the new reign came distinctions for Carteret. 
 Before the coronation of George I. he was appointed 
 one of the lords of the bedchamber ; in 1715 his mother 
 was created Viscountess Carteret and Countess Granville 
 in her own right, with limitation of these honours to 
 her son ; and in 1716 Carteret was made Lord- Lieutenant 
 of Devonshire, one of the western counties with which 
 the Granville family had been much connected. In the
 
 20 LORD CARTERET 
 
 troubled year of 1715 Carteret, a young man of twenty- 
 five, was in the West, doing all he could in support of 
 the new Hanoverian establishment. While the Jacobite 
 rebellion was at its height in the North, Carteret was 
 writing from Stowe to Eobethon, French secretary of 
 George I : — 
 
 ' I am now two hundred long miles from you, situated 
 on a cliff overlooking the sea, and every tide have fresh 
 prospects in viewing ships coming home. In this corner 
 of the earth have I received your letter, and without 
 that I should have heard nothing since I came. 
 
 ' Most of the neisrhbouring o-entlemen have been with 
 me, and I am satisfied that the king will have no reason 
 to expect any disturbance from the west. I did not 
 think there was so good a company amongst [them]. 
 I will do all I can to improve their thoughts of the 
 ministry, and discountenance all the little seeds of 
 faction that have been sown here.'^ 
 
 Carteret's first parliamentary work had been in 
 support of the legal Hanoverian claim to the English 
 throne, and his first parliamentary distinction was 
 gained in defence of the newly estalDlished line. Though 
 George had been received in England with a languidly 
 peaceful indifference, a good deal of disturbance and 
 discontent was early evidence of a dangerous temper in 
 various parts of the country. Serious outbreaks had 
 led to the passing of the Eiot Act, and a rebellion had 
 broken out in Scotland and England. Many of the 
 Tories were Jacobites, and the Tories who were not 
 Jacobites were discontented, for they were totally 
 excluded from the Government. In these rather dis- 
 quieting circumstances, and in accordance witli the 
 Triennial Act, a general election was nearly due. Riots 
 
 1 Sept, 25, 1715. Brit. Mus. Sloane MSS. 4,107 ; fol. 171, v°.
 
 EARLY LIFE AND WORK IN PARLIAMENT 27 
 
 and confusion were even in untroubled times a matter 
 of course ; but on the present occasion there was the 
 further fear of the election of an increased number of 
 Jacobites. Eather than risk a general election, and 
 probably weaken the new and not very popular estab- 
 lishment, the ministry resolved to repeal the Triennial 
 Act. 
 
 Though the matter chiefly affected the House of 
 Commons, the Bill was introduced in the Lords. Every 
 one knew the real reason for the repeal, but formality 
 required that ministerial speakers should indulge in 
 much declamation against the ruinous expense and 
 shameful corruption and dangerous party passions 
 which were the inevitable attendants of the frequent 
 general elections throughout the country. Carteret 
 supported the measure, and this first reported fragment 
 of a speech of his is interesting as showing that at the 
 very beginning of his career his attention was already 
 directed to foreign affairs and European politics. He 
 mainly urged that the increase in the average duration 
 of each English parliament would strengthen the hands 
 of the King and the Government in their dealings with 
 the statesmen of Europe. The sudden changes pro- 
 duced by very frequent general elections perplexed 
 foreign countries, and relatively weakened England in 
 her foreign policy ; for continental statesmen did not 
 care to show more complaisance than was necessary to 
 ministers whose hold on power was exposed to such 
 frequent and capricious interruptions. Carteret's point 
 was an important one ; though the fine old English 
 feeling of satisfaction with everything that is English, 
 and of condescending indifference to the pursuits and 
 proceedings of mere foreigners, of course found a rather 
 confused expression in demands to know why English-
 
 28 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 men and English ministers should pay any attention 
 to the convenience of European statesmen. The Sep- 
 tennial Bill, however, was carried easily enough, and 
 the question does not in itself require any consideration 
 in an account of Carteret's life ; but the fact that 
 Carteret's first recorded parliamentary utterance con- 
 cerned itself with the foreign politics of England and of 
 Europe gives an artistic symmetry and singleness to the 
 story of his political career. For throughout his very 
 varied public life this was the one question which in- 
 terested him most. It formed the argument of this first 
 youthful speech, and it was the subject of the last 
 recorded words which he uttered on his death-bed.
 
 29 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 DIPLOMACY. 
 1717-1719. 
 
 During the first half of the eighteenth century the great 
 Whig party in England was divided into two main sec- 
 tions, definable, with sufiicient accuracy, as Whigs in 
 place, and Whigs out of place. In the earlier years of 
 the reign of George I. one of these rival sections was 
 headed by Walpole and Townshend, the other by Stan- 
 hope and Sunderland. The four statesmen had all, on 
 the accession of the King, been fellow-members of the 
 same united Whig Government ; ToAvnshend, practically 
 Prime Minister ; Stanhope, chief director of foreign 
 affairs ; Walpole, Paymaster ; and Sunderland, consider- 
 ably to his own disgust, Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. 
 But this union, never very cordial, did not last long. 
 Differences and disputes were increased by underhand 
 caballing and unedifying intriguing, and Walpole and 
 Townshend fell. Their colleague-rivals came into un- 
 divided power, and by them admission into official life 
 was gladly offered to Lord Carteret. 
 
 The schism between the four ministers had reached 
 its crisis over the question of foreign politics. The 
 position of George on his accession was not a reassuring 
 one. European enemies were many ; allies few and 
 unsatisfactory. France had recognised George as King, 
 and was perfectly willing to recognise his rival. Spain
 
 80 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 was a mere i)rovince of France. The German Emperor, 
 Charles VI., had been full of irritated contempt for 
 England ever since Harley and St. John had made their 
 Treaty of Utrecht, and had astonished him by refusing 
 to fight for his Spanish succession any longer. Peter 
 of Eussia was sulkily jealous, for George stood in the 
 way of certain Eussian schemes in Germany. Charles 
 XII. of Sweden, though his country was now in a 
 disastrous condition, and he himself an exile in Turkey, 
 was enraged when he lieard that George was joining 
 the alliance against him, and preparing to take posses- 
 sion of Bremen and Verden. To balance all this 
 opposition of Kings, and Czars, and Emperors, England 
 could ojily boast of the friendship of the States-General, 
 and, in a fitful sort of way, of the attachment of the 
 King's son-in-law, Frederick Willi am of Prussia. Neither 
 of these alliances was very satisfactory. Holland was 
 now very different from the Holland of Cromwell's time ; 
 the value of its alliance, even when the Dutch slu<?o-ish 
 officialism could be got to act practically at all, was 
 painfully slight, as Carteret himself in later years more 
 than once experienced to his cost. And assistance 
 procurable from Prussia was mainly of the shadowy, 
 problematic kind ; its King quite new on his own 
 throne, and his famous army still a thing of the future, 
 even if the domestic relations of the English and 
 Prussian sovereigns had not generally been acrid 
 enough. For England the European outlook was de- 
 cidedly gloom}^ and George had many troubles of his 
 own to vex and bewilder him. His new kingdom had 
 not the slightest enthusiasm or admiration for him ; his 
 desirable Bremen and Verden, bought as the cheapest 
 of bargains from the ruins of the empire of Charles 
 XIL, hung very loosely and undecidedly to him, and 
 
 I
 
 DIPLOMACY 31 
 
 his Hanover, which seems to have been his singular 
 synonym for heaven, lay open to the attacks of enraged 
 Swedes or intricyiiiniy Eiissians. His condition was 
 unenviable. 
 
 In such circumstances, the question of making a 
 real ally of France, of detaching France from the party 
 of the Pretender, soon seemed one of much importance 
 to George. The state of affairs in France at the time 
 offered fortunate encouragement to this rather startling 
 change in English diplomacy. Louis XIV. had died a 
 year after the accession of the English King. The Duke 
 of Orleans was regent ; if his ward, the delicate child 
 Louis XV., should die, Orleans himself, according to 
 the Treaty of Utrecht, would be King ; for though 
 the Spanish King was a nearer Bourbon in blood, 
 that treaty forbade one sovereign to wear together the 
 crowns of Spain and of France. Yet in spite of the 
 renunciation which he had duly made, Philip V. of 
 Spain, inspired by Alberoni, might attempt to secure 
 the French throne, and make no more of his pledged 
 word than Louis XIV. had done before him. Such a 
 claim, if made, would lead to war ; to the Eegent, 
 therefore, an alliance with England was a question of 
 direct material advantage. The two countries being 
 thus personally interested, England and France began 
 to draw together. A quite new line of European policy 
 was opened up, and George, chiefly from Hanoverian 
 anxieties, became eager to conclude a definite engage- 
 ment without loss of time. 
 
 The negotiations were troublesome and tedious. 
 Commenced at Paris by the ambassador Lord Stair 
 (best remembered now as English commander at the 
 battle of Dettingen, if there was any commander at all 
 in that singular engagement), they were continued at
 
 32 LORD CARTEBET 
 
 the Hague by Horatio Walpole, Sir "Robert's younger 
 diplomatic brother. For the union was not to be be- 
 tween England and France alone ; Holland was to be 
 included ; if there was strong desire to secure a new 
 ally, there was no wish to offend or alarm an old one. 
 Horatio Walpole gave his word to the States-General 
 that no treaty should be made without them, and he 
 quite sincerely meant it. But as Marlborough had 
 found in the days of Queen Anne, and as Carteret, and 
 Stair, and Chesterfield were to . find in the days of 
 George H., the Dutch were very slow and exceedingly 
 formal. George became very impatient. Let the 
 treaty with France get signed at once, he earnestly 
 urged ; let the Dutch come in to it when they like, 
 whenever their slow formality is ready. Dubois him- 
 self therefore took the affair in hand ; the Limousin 
 apothecary's son, who had risen so high by base, brutish 
 methods. He went to the Hague, pretending to be 
 merely buying pictures and rare books in which a dis- 
 solute abbe, of some culture, might decently affect in- 
 terest. From the Hague to Hanover, under mysterious 
 incognito, though all the English newspapers knew of it, 
 and there in August 1716, after the due diplomatic 
 wrangling and haggling. Stanhope and he came to 
 terms ; England renewing her assurance of support to 
 the French Eegent, and France promising to dismiss the 
 Stuart Pretender beyond the Alps. 
 
 George had thus secured his desired French alliance, 
 though without the concurrence of the Dutch as yet ; but 
 he had involved himself in ministerial disputes at home. 
 It was mainly this French treaty and the negotiations 
 which accompanied it that brought the rival parties 
 in the Whig government to a decisive rupture. 
 
 The King, who had shown no particular hurry to
 
 DIPLOMACY 33 
 
 come to England when its crown became his, showed a 
 very particular hurry to get back to his German home 
 again as soon as he possibly could. Accompanied by 
 Secretary Stanhope, and leaving Walpole and Towns- 
 hend to manage affairs in England, he went to Hanover 
 in the summer of 1716, while this French treaty was 
 still in the doubtful hands of diplomacy ; and to Han- 
 over soon wandered Lord Sunderland in a more or less 
 discontented condition. He had received royal per- 
 mission to leave England on the plea of ill-health, and 
 had gone to Aix-la-Chapelle to drink the waters there. 
 From Aix he easily found his way to Hanover. The 
 two ministers in London knew perfectly well that their 
 colleague was inclined to intrigue against them ; they 
 seriously suspected that nothing but the hurry of the 
 royal escape to Hanover had hindered a decisive minis- 
 terial change already. Sunderland had, of course, pro- 
 tested. ' Lord Sunderland,' writes Lady Cowper, ' took 
 leave of Lord Townshend with a thousand protestations 
 that he would do nothing to hurt any of them, and that 
 his main intention in going was to persuade the King 
 to come back soon.' ^ Walpole seems partly to have 
 believed tliese protestations ; but Sunderland was only 
 veiling falsehood under formality. He was exceedingly 
 discontented ; dissatisfied tliat he w^as merely Lord- 
 Lieutenant of Ireland and not Secretary of State ; dis- 
 gusted with the superiority of Townshend and the as- 
 cendency of Walpole. At Hanover, therefore, he found 
 his passionate pleasure in strengthening the King's sus- 
 picions of the leading ministers in England. 
 
 These suspicions in the King's dull thougli lionest 
 mind rested chiefly on the seemingly unnecessary slow- 
 ness in signing the treaty witli France. Townshend, 
 
 ' Liidy Cowpcr's i'/rtz-y, ll'l-125. 
 
 1)
 
 34 LORD CARTERET 
 
 remembering the formal promise to tlie Dutcli, was 
 cautious. Horatio Walpole, whose private word was 
 emphatically pledged, felt that he could not honourably 
 sign the agreement whicli Stanliope and Dubois had 
 made. After many pressing entreaties on each side, he 
 was allowed to extricate himself from the negotiation 
 altoofether, and returned to London. There he found 
 thinofs in the greatest confusion. Letters had come 
 from the King, from Stanhope, from Sunderland, full of 
 reproaches against Walpole and Townshend, charging 
 them with needless slowness, with opposing the King's 
 continental policy, and wath favouring the party of the 
 Prince of Wales, who was Eegent in England and on 
 the usual bad terms with his father. ' It is a family,' 
 said Carteret on another occasion, ' that has quarrelled 
 from generation to generation, and always will quarrel.' 
 George was disgusted that his son was Eegent at all, 
 and was annoyed with the ministers who had compelled 
 him to consent. All these causes of pique and dis- 
 content were carefully cherished and anxiously magni- 
 fied by the Hanoverian ministers and favourites who 
 naturally enough surrounded the King. A hungry, 
 slightly vulgar crew, these Germans looked upon 
 the good things of England as plunder providentially 
 supplied lor persons of mere limited Hanoverian ways 
 and means ; and Walpole and Townshend, who took a 
 different view of the subject, stood in their way with 
 annoying effectiveness. Of Bothmar, one of the chief 
 of these objectionable foreigners, Townshend said that 
 he had every day some infamous project or other on 
 foot for getting money. Eobethon, another of them, 
 whom Swift in one of his political tracts calls ' a very 
 inconsiderable French vagrant,' was publicly spoken of 
 by Wal])ole in the House of Commons as a mean fellow,
 
 DIPLOMACY 35 
 
 an impertinent busybody ; and tlie Government took it 
 as a matter of course that he would do them all the 
 harm he could. Bernsdorf, as interested and corrupt 
 as any, seems to have been considerably a fool in addi- 
 tion ; a mischievous, stupid old creature, poking about 
 with solemn stupidity in whatever dirt offered the pos- 
 sibility of an acceptable shilling ; puzzling in negotiations 
 ' with the adroitness of a cow,' said Secretary Craggs, 
 who was always uncomplimentary to the bovine Hano- 
 verian. To one of these grasping vagrants, detected in 
 some mendacity in the King's presence, Walpole once 
 exclaimed, in the only dialect in which he could commu- 
 nicate with Germans, Mentiris impudentismne : You are 
 a most impudent liar ; but George only laughed. All 
 these vulgar, hungry persons were Avorking with the im- 
 placability of disappointed greed, upon the King's annoy- 
 ance witli Walpole and Townshend, and the rapacious 
 German women who reigned in a queenless court were 
 equally bitter against the ministers who excluded them 
 from the glory and the profit of the English peerage. 
 The discontents and misrepresentations grew so unbear- 
 able that Townshend resolved to resign when the King 
 returned, and Walpole spoke of his brother-in-law and 
 himself as chained to the oar and toiling like slaves. 
 
 It was almost in despair that the two statesmen 
 decided to send Horatio Wal})ole to Hanover, that they 
 might have at least one friend in the crowd of schemers 
 who surrounded the King. For tlie moment, Walpole's 
 presence seemed to interrupt the intrigues. Stanhope 
 reasserted his protestations of attachment to tlie minis- 
 ters in England ; the King regretted that lie liimself 
 had formed misconceptions, and, after receiving from 
 Townshend a justification of his conduct, declared that 
 liis confidence was restored. Thinking that now all was 
 
 D 2
 
 36 LORD CABTEEET 
 
 well, Horatio Walpole returned to England towards the 
 close of 1716 ; Init his arrival in London was almost 
 instantly followed by a despatch from Stanhope, an- 
 nouncing that Townshend was dismissed from his office 
 of Secretary of State. Walpole, never afraid of using 
 frank language, remonstrated earnestly with Stanhope, 
 and said in his plain, direct way that all those who had 
 spread reports against his brother-in-law and himself 
 were ' confounded liars from the beginning to the end.' 
 Expostulation was useless. Even tlie Lord-Lieutenancy 
 of Ireland, wliich Townshend liad accepted after first 
 indignantly refusing it, was, early in 1717, taken from 
 him. Walpole immediately threw up his own employ- 
 ment, and Stanhope and Sunderland rose to unrestricted 
 power. 
 
 Carteret himself had no sliare in this political 
 quarrel ; but the two statesmen who thus gained un- 
 divided influence were his willing introducers into tlie 
 high places of diplomacy and politics. Stanhope made 
 him ambassador to Sweden in 1719 ; Sunderland made 
 him Secretary of State in the eaily months of 1721. 
 
 It was noticed with considerable disj^nst that the 
 first foreign complication whicli entangled England 
 under George I. was the direct result of the Hanoverian 
 connection. For twenty years, ever since 1697 and the 
 accession of the boy-king Charles XII. to the throne of 
 Sweden, all tlie north of Europe had been in a state 
 of confused quarrel. The northern rulers, August the 
 Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, Frederick 
 IV. of Denmark, and the Czar Peter, anxious to tear 
 back from Sweden the possessions gained by Gustavus 
 Adolphus and the Thirty Years' War, thouglit their 
 opportunity had come when tlie new Swedish King was 
 little more than a cliild ; and tlicy were filled with
 
 I 
 
 DIPLOMACY 87 
 
 alarmed astonishment when the opportunity proved to 
 be the young King's, and not theirs at alL Hurrying 
 from victory to victory, Charles woukl not hsten to 
 anxious proposals for peace, and the war dragged on 
 till the battle of Pultowa sent him, a fugitive, to 
 Turkey. Doggedly and uselessly he spent five years 
 at Bender or Demotica, while the northern allies were 
 busily attacking his possessions in Germany. Frederick 
 William of Prussia joined the league and took firm 
 possession of Stettin ; while Denmark, by occupying 
 Bremen and Yerden, was nidirectly drawing England 
 into the quarrel. Suddenly in the dead of a November 
 night of 1714, Charles, who had ridden through Europe 
 in disguise, appeared all covered with snow at the gates 
 of Stralsund, his own town in Pomerania. Frederick 
 of Denmark, alarmed for the Swedish territories which 
 he had gained, and anxiously afraid that Charles might 
 be too much for him after all, sacrificed some of his 
 conquests that he might make quite sure of the others, 
 and sold Bremen and Yerden, on the cheapest of terms, 
 to Georg;e as Elector of Hanover. Thus Eng"land, too, 
 w^as drawn into the coalition against Sw^eden, and an 
 English squadron, under Admiral Norris, sailed to the 
 Baltic to protect what interests England might have 
 there. With prompt retaliation, Cliarles, exasperated 
 with the Elector who was also a King, joined the councils 
 of the Jacobites, and a probable Swedish invasion of 
 England became a serious political consideration. 
 
 Sweden by herself, in her very broken condition, 
 need not have caused England very great anxiety ; but 
 the unscrupulously adventurous policy of a new Swedish 
 minister made her proceedings too formidable for con- 
 tempt. This minister was Baron Gortz, a Franconian, 
 who had entered the service of Cliarles XII. ' A man
 
 38 LOBD CARTEEET 
 
 of no high Inrth,' said Carteret of him in tlie House of 
 Lords many years after, ' nor any supereminent qiiaU- 
 ties ; yet by his cunning he got such a power over his 
 master that nothing was done without him ; no post, 
 civil or mihtary, was bestowed but according to his 
 direction.' The poHcy of Gortz aimed at a reconcile- 
 ment between Sweden and Russia, and reckoned confi- 
 dently that Spanish money would tlien support the 
 union of Charles and the Czar with the Jacobites. Peter 
 and Charles were both poor monarclis ; but they had a 
 rich friend eagerly ready to help them in Alberoni, the 
 Italian working-gardener's son, once servant to a parish 
 clerk, now practically King of Spain. Gortz, abundantly 
 supplied with Alberoni's gold, began to work his Jaco- 
 bite plots in Sweden, in Holland, and in England itself; 
 but he could not keep his doings secret from the Eng- 
 lisli ministers, wliose instant activity quickly sent tlie 
 schemer and his schemes together to irrecoverable ruin. 
 In January 1717 tlie Government took the strong step 
 of arresting tlie Swedish ambassador to England, and 
 gave no heed to the shocked and sorrowful anger of Spain 
 at so frightful an incident in international deportment. 
 The ambassador's letters and papers sufficiently revealed 
 a Swedish-Jacobite plot, of wliicli Carteret afterwards 
 discovered the full details in Sweden. Gortz also, 
 liitherto unknown in England, was arrested by Eng- 
 land's ally, Holland, and an English fleet appeared in 
 the Sound. In close succession followed two fatal blows, 
 whicli cut short tlie plans and plots of Charles and 
 Alberoni in a very decisive manner. On the 10th of 
 August, 1718, Admiral Byng destroyed the Spanish fleet 
 in the roads of Messina, and England sh or tlj^ afterwards 
 declared war against Spain ; and a second, far severer 
 blow to the Spanish Cardinal was the death of Charles
 
 DIPLOMACY 39 
 
 XII., near the close of the same year. The poHtical 
 condition of the North was at once completely changed. 
 The projected reconciliation between Eussia and 
 Sweden was laid aside ; Gortz was tried and executed ; 
 and, not very much later, his fantastic scheme finally 
 vanished in the sudden and complete disgrace of 
 Alberoni. 
 
 Before this last event had taken place, Carteret and 
 diplomacy had appeared conspicuously on tlie scene. 
 The new young Queen of Sweden, Ulrique Eleanora, 
 Charles's younger sister, was very anxious for peace with 
 England. To exhausted Sweden, impoverished in men 
 and money, and menaced on all sides by the fleets and 
 armies of four hostile powers, peace and friendship with 
 one at least of them was almost a necessary condition of 
 existence. That it should be England with which peace 
 should first be made was the notion and wish of Ulrique 
 and George alike; first with England, and then England 
 would willingly offer her general mediation to obtain for 
 Sweden the best possible terms from her three remaining 
 enemies. The diplomatic task would be complicated, 
 perhaps difficult ; Carteret found it far more difficult 
 than he had imagined ; but it was the plan which seemed 
 best and most likely to succeed. It was entrusted to 
 Carteret. His political abilities had already excited 
 attention ; and now in tlie early months of 1719 his 
 friend Stanhope, the chief manager of foreign atfairs, 
 a])pointed him ambassador extraordinary and minister 
 plenipotentiary to the Queen of Sweden. 
 
 When tlie parliamentary session ended, and the 
 early sumnier came round (parliament generally meet- 
 ing in January or February and ending in April or May, 
 in those days), the King and Stanliope left for Hanover,
 
 40 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 and Carteret in June sailed for Sweden.^ A fortnight 
 afterwards he hmded at Gothenburg, thence to make 
 his way as speedily as possible overland to Stockholm. 
 Every day was precious to Sweden in its disastrous con- 
 dition, and Carteret personally was always prompt and 
 indefatigable in public business. A week, he hoped, 
 would take him from Gothenburg to Stockliolm, though 
 lie was slightly disappointed in that. Tliere were un- 
 usually great difficulties in travelling in Norway and 
 Sweden at the time ; a hostile Danish fleet sailing to 
 Norway, a Swedish army marching to meet it, and in 
 such circumstances few horses to be procured except 
 for military purposes. In spite of his anxiety to hurry 
 on, Carteret was detained three days at Gothenburg, and 
 could not in any way find horses till the governor of 
 the town had requisitioned the peasants to bring them 
 in. It was July 11 before he reached Stockholm, accom- 
 panied by a young Swedisli nobleman whom the Queen 
 had sent to attend hhn. 
 
 Queen Ulrique very gladly and kindly, as she well 
 might, received the English plenipotentiary, appointed 
 ministers to come to terms with him, and cheerfully saw 
 the peace negotiations begun. Her husband, too, the 
 Prince of Hessen-Cassel, showed Carteret great favour, 
 and a strong personal liking arose among all three. 
 These and other private friendships made in Sweden 
 were personally pleasant enough, but the negotiations 
 were capricious and intricate. Carteret had four dis- 
 
 ' Everything that is contained in the rest of this chapter is based upon 
 Carteret's own unprinted despatches from Stockholm and elsewhere to the 
 ministers in London. The story of the embassy, so far as it concerns Carteret 
 himself, lias never before been told; and even on the strictly impersonal, 
 political side, the events of 1719 and 17l'0 are passed over very lightly in the 
 general histories of that period. ( 'arteret's despatches are in Brit. Mus. Add. 
 MSS. 2iV)ll 22,514.
 
 DIPLOMACY 41 
 
 tinct pieces of work to bring, if possible, to a successful 
 issue ; and there was a fifth, to which also he was to 
 lend a helping hand. Sweden's peace was to be made 
 with England, with Prussia, with Eussia, and with Den- 
 mark ; and, as a preliminary to all this, peace was also 
 to be made with George as Elector of Hanover, and the 
 tiresome business of Bremen and Verden to be so settled. 
 George's own Hanoverian minister, Bassewitz, was already 
 at Stockholm, working at this last arrangement, and had 
 made considerable progress in it when Carteret arrived. 
 But Carteret saw at once that there could be no satis- 
 factory settlement except on one preliminary condition. 
 The most pressing want of Sweden was effectual assist- 
 ance against the Czar, who was keeping the whole 
 country in constant dread of invasion and destruction. 
 If no help came, Sweden would be simply compelled to 
 make peace Avith Peter on his own terms. There was 
 a Swedish party which desired this ; though the more 
 influential leaders were in favour of the a^jreement with 
 England. But if England gave no sign of practical as 
 well as of diplomatic good-will, this patriotic party might 
 be unable to prevail. Sir John Norris and his fleet 
 were anchored at the Skaw. Could they not come 
 nearer to Stockliolm .5^ Carteret, who saw that this 
 would be the best of all possible aids to his negotiations, 
 himself anxiously desired it. He had been less than 
 a week at Stockholm when this rpiestion of the fleet 
 became the one point on which all turned. News 
 suddenly arrived tliat the Czar's troops were embarking, 
 designing to land close by Stockholm. The Swedish 
 negotiators hurried to Carteret. Nothing now, they 
 urged, could save them but the EnsHsh fleet. In the 
 name of the Queen and Prince, let Norris come ; and 
 within eight days George's treaty as Elector should be
 
 42 LOUD CABTEBET 
 
 settled as satisfactorily as lie could ^visli. And George's 
 interests as King of Great Britain? asked Carteret, 
 requiring the Queen's own word for satisfactory per- 
 formances. The Queen readily gave it, and Carteret 
 undertook to write to the admiral as soon as the pre- 
 liminary promises were formally fulfilled. ' The alarm 
 changes every thing in onr favour,' he wrote to his 
 friend Secretary Craggs ; ' I shall make all the use of it 
 I can, and if the fleet sails, I believe we shall do our 
 business witli honour.' 
 
 Diplomatic matters were thus pleasantly hurried, and 
 negotiations became very active. Bassewitz's preliminary 
 treaty, by which Bremen and Verden were formally 
 handed over to the Elector of Hanover, was signed and 
 ratified ; and on the very same day (July 22, 1719) 
 Carteret, though only with great difficulty, obtained the 
 Swedish signatures to a preliminary convention with 
 George as King of England. Never, says Carteret, were 
 people more unwilling to set their hands to a paper 
 than were the Swedes to sign this yjreliminary treaty. 
 It was the hope of the fleet, and that alone, which 
 carried the day ; for Carteret on his side promised 
 to write by express urging Norris to advance. He 
 waited only till the Swedish senate should ratify this 
 convention which the Swedish negotiators had accepted ; 
 the letter then should go to Norris at once. 
 
 Yet Carteret was still harassed by further difficulty 
 and delay. Tlie Secretary of State soon came to him, 
 bringing, Carteret supposed, the desired ratification ; 
 but it proved to be otherwise. The plenipotentiaries 
 were already frightened at what they had done. They 
 now asserted that Carteret's terms had been too hard on 
 them ; that his promises were too vague ; tluit the 
 Senate Avould never ratify such an agreement. The
 
 DIPLOMACY 43 
 
 Secretary argued with Carteret for tliree hours, and, not 
 makhig any impression, declared that tlie Avhole thing 
 must be looked upon as broken off. Carteret was not 
 the man easily to agree to that. Late at night, at his 
 request, the plenipotentiaries were summoned to meet 
 him again. They were very emphatic ; the states, they 
 said, would pull them to pieces for such a treaty as they 
 had signed, and any ratification of it was impossible. 
 Carteret simply refused to accept another agreement 
 which they had prepared for him ; but in order that 
 the failure of the negotiation might not in any degree 
 rest upon himself, he patiently sat down to draw up a 
 third paper which might be sufficiently acceptable to 
 the Swedes. It was a hopeless attempt, and at three 
 o'clock in the morning the negotiators separated, no 
 agreement having been concluded. Carteret, however, 
 would not even yet despair. He told the statesmen that 
 he would not go to bed, but would wait for them three 
 hours more. If no ratification was obtainable by six 
 o'clock, he would go down from Stockholm to the army, 
 to see whether the Prince approved these proceedings 
 of Swedish diplomacy. 
 
 Six o'clock came, but no ratification ; and Carteret 
 indefatigably started on a six hours' journey to find 
 Queen Uli'ique's liusband in his quarters with the army. 
 His business there was successfully accomplislied, the 
 Prince and the Field- marshal (who was a^.so one of the 
 leadinij Swedish statesmen) givino; him a letter which 
 niiglit materially assist him if the temper of the nego- 
 tiators should be still the same. Late in the evening 
 Carteret returned to Stockholm; the briiilit li<j^hts which 
 he saw as he rode that hot July night from the camp 
 to the capital were the fires with which the Czar and 
 his Muscovites were burniuii; the islands on the Swedish
 
 U LOUD (JARTEIIET 
 
 coast. ' He Ininis all upon the islands, and takes tlie 
 men prisoners. I saw his fires as I came back,' Avrites 
 Carteret, who, however, did not stop to look at them, 
 for his negotiation had become more pressing than ever. 
 While he himself had been with the Prince that after- 
 noon, the Czar's minister* had been actually in the 
 Swedish camp Avith propositions of peace from Eiissia. 
 Here was news likely to make the more patriotic 
 Swedish statesmen less obstinate in their dealino-s with 
 England ; for if the English negotiation failed, Sweden, 
 in her almost defenceless condition, would be forced to 
 accept what terms it might please Eussia to offer. Tn 
 these circumstances, without the slightest loss of time 
 (though Carteret must have been very weary), a new 
 agreement was devised to the contentment of each side, 
 and Carteret very gladly got his ratification safe at last 
 -^so near, as he said himself, had he been losing all in 
 the very port. At midnight that same night, the affair 
 being now happily settled, Carteret wrote to Norris 
 urging him, if his instructions were sufficient, to join 
 with his fleet the Swedish ships in the Baltic, and com- 
 plete the deliverance of Sweden. 
 
 But the days passed on, and Norris did not come. 
 As Carteret had partly conjectured, Norris would not 
 venture to take so decisive a step without express 
 orders from the King, and Stanhope had already written 
 to the admiral that the King was resolved to send no 
 further instructions till he knew that the negotiation 
 in Sweden had been successful. Carteret's situation, 
 therefore, became very difficult. It was only the 
 promise of the fleet that had gained the much-desired 
 signature, and after all there was not the slightest sign 
 of the fleet's arrival. The Swedish Senate, which does 
 not impress one as having been an unusually wise
 
 DIPLOMACY 45 
 
 assembly, began to turn again to thoiiglits of peace 
 with Eussia. The Queen anxiously implored Carteret's 
 presence at the palace of Carieberg, where the Senate 
 was ; and as he walked in the royal gardens with the 
 Prince there, senators were sent out to converse with 
 liim, eager to know if anything might stiJl be hoped for 
 from Admiral Norris. Carteret gave them the best 
 hopes he could, but all his assertions must have seemed 
 far too problematical ; for that same day, early in 
 August 1719, the Senate decided for peace with the 
 Czar on what terms he pleased. Slightly ashamed of 
 their tame resolution, and abashed by the courage of 
 the Queen (true sister of Charles XTI.), they did indeed 
 next day venture to mention that some conditions on 
 their side would be necessarv ; but their vacillatinir 
 conduct was endangering all the negotiations, and 
 throwing everything loose again. If only the fleet 
 would come ! longed Carteret, and he eagerly awaited a 
 reply to tlie despatches which he sent to Stanhope at 
 Hanover. ' The moment a courier arrives,' he writes 
 to Stanhope, ' my house is full of senators, inquiring 
 about the fleet ; ' and Carteret had to listen, with un- 
 complaining patience, to their exceedingly unpleasant 
 remarks. He himself could do nothing but wait and 
 hope, really sorry for the actual condition of Sweden, 
 and for the worse things that would come upon it if 
 the Czar should be able to impose his own terms of 
 peace. Sweden ' as yet does not feel all her wounds,' 
 Carteret rather eloquently wrote ; ' they are warm. 
 The late King put a s})irit and a courage, and left a 
 motion in this nation which is not yet expired, but it 
 abates daily, and will soon cease.' 
 
 Carteret's situation was sufficiently unpleasant, yet 
 just at this point liis difficulties were suddenly and
 
 46 LOUD CAETERET 
 
 seriously increased. While he had been busy at Stock- 
 holm, George and Stanhope at Hanover had been 
 carrying on negotiations with Frederick William of 
 Prussia, anxious to induce him to accept English 
 mediation, and so secure his peace with Sweden. Stan- 
 hope had succeeded, though much plagued by the 
 usual self-interested interference of the sordid Hano- 
 verians, and he now despatched instructions to Carteret 
 informing him that a fair acceptance by Sweden of 
 Prussia's reasonable terms must be the essential con- 
 dition of any English reconciliation with Sweden. 
 George's own arrangement with SAveden as Elector of 
 Hanover was already practically safe, and with infinite 
 difficulty Carteret had brought the settlement between 
 England and Sweden into a fair way of success ; but 
 here was likely to be a fatal blow to the whole negotia- 
 tion which had painfully advanced so far. Carteret 
 hastened to the Prince, who was very cold and dis- 
 appointed when he heard the news ; but Carteret, 
 speaking with frank sincerity, told him that he was 
 positively ordered to break off his negotiation altogether 
 if this point were not granted. Tlie Prince at length 
 was personally gained over to consent by Carteret's 
 arguments and frankness, but he declared that it was 
 hopeless to fancy that the Senate would ever accept 
 such a plan. In no case whatever would there be the 
 slightest chance of success for any such scheme without 
 the actual junction of the English and Swedish fleets, 
 and the guarantee by England that Sweden should re- 
 cover Revel and Livonia from the Czar. 
 
 Having succeeded so far with the Prince, Carteret 
 had next to deal with the Swedisli plenipotentiaries. 
 The cessions which Frederick William required from 
 Sweden were principally Stettin and its dependent
 
 DIPLOMACY 47 
 
 towns, which were included in that part of Pomerania 
 obtained by Sweden at the end of the Thirty Years' 
 War, though Brandenburg had had long previous legal 
 claims on them. By joining the alliance against 
 Charles XII., Frederick William had made himself 
 master of Stettin and Stralsund. He surrendered all 
 claims on Stralsund, but Stettm he was resolved to 
 keep, and the Englisli Government supported him. 
 When Carteret informed the Swedish statesmen of the 
 Prussian and English requirements, he found them 
 perfectly firm. England, they said, must absolutely 
 guarantee the recovery of Revel and Livonia, or the 
 cessions to Prussia would not be listened to for a mo- 
 ment. It w^as in vain that Carteret, witli liis usual 
 recognition of realities, urged upon the Swedes that in 
 no case could they ever regain the possessions which 
 Frederick William now held ; that it would be better for 
 them to accept the friendly mediation of England and 
 to grant Prussia's moderate demands, than to break off 
 the whole negotiation, and possibly throw Frederick 
 William into the arms of the Czar. Arguments were 
 useless ; neither side w^ould give way, and Carteret, 
 looking upon the case as desperate, gave up all hope 
 of success. But he met the negotiators once more, 
 and this time an exceedingly fortunate incident secured 
 what diplomacy seemed unable to reacli. On August 
 30, 1719, Carteret writes from Stockholm to Stanliope 
 at Hanover : — 
 
 ' Yesterday we met again. Tlie whole matter w^as 
 talked over in the same terms. They told me the 
 Senate would never consent to it ; and just as I was 
 leaving them, giving all for gone, I had the good luck 
 to receive a letter from Sir Jolm ISTorris, so prudently 
 and discreetly writ, that I could show it them ; in
 
 48 LOUD CARTERET 
 
 which he said, he waited only for the first fair wind to 
 come to Hanoe. This prevailed infinitely more than 
 anything I conld say ; turned the balance in my favour. 
 They immediately, while I stayed in the Chancery, 
 went and communicated that letter to tlie Senate. 
 Count Sparre, who had all along opposed this matter, 
 said I had acted frankly and honourably ; tliat he saw, 
 by the letter of the admiral, that the King of Great 
 Britain and his ministers were in earnest ; therefore he 
 would not be ashamed to change his opinion, and be 
 for concluding the treaty with me, if I would admit of 
 some alterations. The plenipotentiaries returned, and 
 told me the Senate was inclined to advise the Queen to 
 conclude with me, making some amendments, which 
 they would acquaint me with the next day.' 
 
 Here was the negotiation rescued from the fire 
 once more ; the proposed alterations were agreed to, 
 and the fleet was coming, not to stop at Hanoe, but 
 to sail on to Stockholm itself. Carteret, in his usual 
 generous way, ignoring his own hard work and per- 
 sistent energy, gave to Norris the credit for whatever 
 might be the consequent success, reserving only for 
 himself the blame of possible mistakes and misadven- 
 tures. The third of his five pieces of work, Sweden's 
 peace with Prussia, was thus successfully started ; and 
 on September 1, 1719, he gladly wrote to Norris on 
 the news of his approach : — 
 
 'I received your letters of the 15th and ITtli 
 [August 26 and 28, N.S.] about eleven o'clock this 
 night, with inexpressible joy and satisfaction. I went 
 immediately to Court ; but her Majesty was abed. I 
 called up liis royal highness, who received the news 
 with the utmost pleasure ; and to him I delivered your 
 letter to the Queen. . . . You have now a very
 
 DIPLOMACY 49 
 
 glorious scene of action open to you, in which you 
 will show to the wliole world what the English nation 
 can do. 'Tis the honestest cause that ever man was 
 engaged in. The great business is to intercept the 
 Czar, that he may not get to Eevel. Cut off his re- 
 treat, and we are sure of him. I am afraid those two 
 frigates that hovered about our fleet will have carried 
 him advice of your dispositions to sail, and he will run 
 awaj''. [This turned out to be the case.'] There is not an 
 honest man in Sweden that would not now lay down 
 his life for our King. I must do the good Queen the 
 justice to say, that she always trusted to the King's 
 word, and has shown a certain courage and greatness 
 of soul in her distress, which is hardly to be met wnth 
 out of this country and our own. God bless you. Sir 
 John Norris. All honest and good men will give you 
 just applause. Many persons will envy you ; but no- 
 body will dare say a word against you.' 
 
 Carteret adds in a postscript : —   
 
 ' 1 now thank God that I have prevented their 
 making peace with the Czar. It lay heavy upon my 
 conscience, whilst I saw their misery, and heard of no 
 succours coming.' 
 
 Queen and Prince, too, were very glad and gratefid. 
 ' Mon ami ! ' said the Prince to Carteret, ' ne me re- 
 gardez pas comme prmce, mais comine gentilliomme et 
 officier anglais.'' The actual arrival of the fleet, and 
 the splendid entertainments given on board by the 
 admiral, increased the good feeling. Carteret was per- 
 sonally much relieved, for his situation had been very 
 embarrassing. He speaks of it in a note to Secretary 
 Craggs in September : — 
 
 ' No public minister was ever, for a month together, 
 upon so bad, nor upon so dangerous a situation as I 
 
 E
 
 50 LOBD CABTERET 
 
 have been. Tlie coiniiiou people looked upon me as 
 the author of their misery, by preventing the peace 
 with the Czar, while no succours came. . . . How- 
 ever, I still went on in the same strain, and have 
 worked through with some success ; so that at present 
 no ambassador was ever upon a better footing in a 
 country than I am. I hope not to stay long ; though 
 the Court, when I hint at going, are in concern. I say 
 I will return in spring, if tlie King will let me, with 
 the fleet. I don't doubt but you will continue to me 
 your friendship ; for I shall be, dear Craggs, yours for 
 ever.' 
 
 So high was the reputation of England in Sweden 
 at this particular moment, that Carteret thought he 
 might hopefully venture upon the fourth part of his 
 work : the arrangement of peace between Sweden and 
 Denmark. From the very first, this had seemed likely 
 to be the most difficult of all his tasks. More than 
 against all the other enemies that had attacked them, 
 the feelino's of the Swedes were bitter at^ainst the 
 Danes. When Carteret, soon after liis arrival, had 
 hinted at some cessions to Denmark, the Swedish nego- 
 tiators had flamed out at once, declaring that they 
 would rather give everything to the Czar than anything 
 to Denmark. Eiigen and Stralsund were already in 
 possession of the Danes ; but wlien Carteret alluded to 
 the Danish retention of those places, and peace between 
 Sweden and Denmark on such terms, tlie Prince desired 
 him, as a personal friend, never more to mention such 
 a thing to him. The animosity against the Danes was 
 almost incredible, wrote Carteret ; and he had felt 
 obliged to be mainly silent on that point ; all the more, 
 perhaps, because it was the Danes who, by the bait of 
 Bremen and Verden, had drawn Georf:^e and Eng;land
 
 DIPLOMACY 51 
 
 into the quarrel. But now when England was high in 
 favour — for on the first news of the approach of Norris 
 the Czar had withdrawn his fleet and galleys — Carteret 
 thought he might venture to reopen the question. 
 He began by offering the King's mediation to obtain for 
 Sweden peace with Denmark, and was glad, perhaps 
 a little surprised, to find that accepted. He even pre- 
 vailed on Sweden, though with difficulty, to agree to 
 a cessation of arms for six months. After all the re- 
 pulses he had met with in this delicate affair, this 
 seemed to Carteret a fair and hopeful beginning ; it 
 might be possible to get actual peace agreed to before 
 the six months were out. But Carteret knew that the 
 question of Eligen and Stralsund would be an almost 
 insuperable difficulty ; it would be the hardest thing 
 possible to persuade Denmark to restore what it had 
 conquered from Sweden. That the question had been 
 actually opened was the most hopeful thing that could 
 yet be said about it ; its settlement would be at least 
 a matter of time ; and meanwhile Carteret, who had 
 now four separate negotiations on liand at once, was 
 very anxious to get some of them definitely decided, 
 and removed beyond the reach of often-threatening 
 accidents. 
 
 Of George's treaty as Elector of Hanover, the main 
 point, the transfer of Bremen and Verden, was already 
 completely settled. Only some little, trifling disputes, 
 in which George's Hanoverian ministers, greatly to 
 Carteret's disgust, were constantly interfering, still re- 
 mained open. These German ministers, with their 
 miserable little chicanery and the interrupting pettiness 
 of their letters to Bassewitz, were a mere nuisance and 
 hindrance. Ever since the negotiations had begun, 
 their trickery and knavery had been meddling and 
 
 p 2
 
 52 LOBD CABTEEET 
 
 tliwartino- ; and their continued interference, in such 
 comphcated circumstances, was becoming dangerous. 
 On some of the endless httle diplomatic differences they 
 sent orders to Bassewitz to answer dilatorie ; ' for which 
 I don't know an English word,' writes Carteret sarcas- 
 tically. ' What can a minister do under such orders ? 
 These people desire a plain and positive answer.' Berns- 
 dorf, one of the chief of these heavy Hanoverian func- 
 tionaries, ventured, not knowing his man, to send some 
 of what Carteret called his ' trifling stuff ' to Carteret 
 himself. ' I regarded that advice,' Carteret wrote to 
 Stanhope, ' as an honest man should do, with great 
 contempt.' If the treaty had been in Carteret's pro- 
 vince, he plainly says that he would have ventured to 
 sign and accept it at once. As it was, he could do 
 little more than stand aside and disdainfully wait till 
 rapacious Hanoverians unwillingly concluded that the 
 field of possible plunder was exhausted. When even 
 Hanoverian hopes found it useless to struggle for a 
 single shilling more, the treaty was at last absolutely 
 signed on November 20, 1719, and so one at least of 
 the diplomatic arrangements was made as safe as such 
 things commonly are. 
 
 So far the ground was cleared ; the Electoral rub- 
 bish was out of the way, and room was made for royal 
 negotiations. Carteret now took up his character of 
 ambassador extraordinary ; and though, in considera- 
 tion of the suffering condition of Sweden, his audience 
 was private, he had yet, as his good friends the Queen 
 and Prince assured him, made the best possible entry, 
 for he had approached the Queen with a friendly fleet. 
 Carteret at once earnestly turned to the completion of 
 Sweden's treaties of peace with England and with 
 Prussia. He was quite willing to let these two treaties
 
 1 
 
 DIPLOMACY 53 
 
 run liand in liand, if Prussia would act harmoniously 
 in such an arrangement ; and at first it seemed that 
 Prussia would do so. When the Prussian minister, 
 Cnyphausen, arrived at Stockholm in October 1719, 
 Carteret had worked so well and successfully that the 
 final treaty was really ready for signature. Cnyphau- 
 sen, though privately he had very extensive views, 
 showed himself quite inclined to act on the basis which 
 Carteret had prepared for him, and there were hopes 
 that all Avould soon be finished. Difficulties did not 
 seem at all insurmountable. Cnyphausen liimself pre- 
 sented a project of arrangement ; the Swedish ministers 
 on their side did tlie same ; and out of these two plans 
 Carteret, assisted by the French minister Campredon, 
 formed a third, apparently to tlie satisfaction of all 
 parties. Two or three meetings would be sufficient, 
 thouglit Carteret, to finish matters ; and he kept back 
 his own treaty with Sweden out of consideration for 
 the King of Prussia. 
 
 Things had gone so well and so far, that before the 
 end of 1719 Carteret was able to assure the Queen that 
 the arrangement was practically ready. But suddenly 
 Cnyphausen declared tliat he could not stand to his agree- 
 ment. Contrary to his promise to Carteret and to Cam- 
 predon, Cnyphausen had sent home to Berlin the project 
 wliich the Swedisli ministers had presented to him. TJie 
 French and the Eng:lish ministers had both assured him 
 that this proposed plan sliould be altered entirely to 
 his satisfaction, and tliat wliat he found objectionable 
 in it was entirely due to tlie very roundabout manner 
 in which Sweden performed its official business. Yet 
 Cnyphausen sent it liome, and tlie King of Prussia was 
 thrown into one of his fits of petulant bad temper. A 
 ' little start of passion,' Carteret called it, and was
 
 54 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 greatly perplexed by it. Cnyphausen would not sign, 
 and it seemed tliat the negotiation must be lost. Early 
 in January 1720, Carteret wrote to the English minister 
 Whitworth, at Berlin, unfolding his perplexities : — 
 
 ' I know but one way that is to be taken, in wliicli I 
 see great hazards and difficulties too ; which is for me 
 to accept the treaty, as we have settled it, signed by the 
 plenipotentiaries, and finish my own. If I finish my own 
 without the King of Prussia's, his treaty is lost. If I 
 don't finish mine, the Queen and Prince and our friends 
 will have strange difficulties in the Assembly of the 
 States, which will certainly bring new difficulties upon 
 the King our master's treaty already signed. If Mr. 
 Cnyphausen will sign the treaty, I am sure the States 
 will approve every step that has been taken. If they 
 have not my treaty to be laid before them, they will 
 approve none. What can I do ? 'Tis in vain to ask. 
 The States assemble in fifteen days, before which time I 
 can have no answer from anybody. I would give a 
 good sum of money out of my own pocket to be well 
 out of these circumstances. I don't care for bold strokes, 
 and yet I have lived by nothing else here. Since I 
 must venture, I Avill do that which is honestest, finish 
 my treaty, and keep my word to the Queen and Prince, 
 who will suffer extremely (especially tlie Prince, to Mdiom 
 our master has great obligations) if I don't keep my 
 word. This is what I can best answer to myself; and I 
 hope everybody, especially our master and his ministers, 
 will likewise think it the wisest thing I can do in these 
 difficult circumstances, since it is the honestest.' 
 
 Carteret, who had thought all his risks Avere over, 
 thus found himself in as intricate a case as ever. The 
 English treaty must be signed before the meeting of the 
 Estates, or there would be endless fault-findino- and re-
 
 DIPLOMACY 55 
 
 proaches from the Assembly. The Prussian treaty, if 
 not signed at the same time, would be referred to a 
 Congress, which was planned to meet (though happily 
 it never did) at Brunswick, and possibly would be lost 
 altogether. In such circumstances, Carteret thought 
 that it would be his wisest, though somewhat venture- 
 some, plan to accept on his own responsibility the 
 Prussian treaty as it stood, though only Swedish, and no 
 Prussian, signatures were attached to it, and so to give 
 Frederick William at least the chance of finally accept- 
 ing or rejecting it as he pleased. Cnyphausen, personally, 
 had no real fault to find with the treaty, though his 
 hands were so vexatiously tied up ; and privately he 
 acknowledged that Carteret could not do otherwise than 
 he proposed. On the first day of February 1720 Car- 
 teret accordingly signed the two treaties ; his own com- 
 plete in all points ; the King of Prussia's still unfixed, 
 and to be restored by Carteret to the Swedes as cancelled, 
 if Frederick William should not ratify it within six 
 weeks. England undertook to subsidise Sweden so long 
 as the Northern war might last, and to assist her asjainst 
 Eussia by the presence of an English fleet in the Baltic. 
 The pith of the Prussian treaty was the surrender of 
 Stettin and its dependent towns by Sweden, while 
 Prussia, in its turn, agreed to pay a sum of two 
 million florins. A curious little instance of Frederick 
 William's economics came out in the course of the 
 negotiations. He stipulated that the waggons and 
 horses which brought the Prussian money should be 
 precisely \ydid for. ' So minute a particular,' wrote 
 Carteret,.' has liardly ever been inserted in a treaty to 
 be made between two crowns.' 
 
 The day after tlie signing of these two treaties, tlie 
 Swedish session began. Carteret wrote home an account
 
 56 LORD CAETEBET 
 
 of the opening, at which he was present. The formal 
 ministerial speakers were followed by the spokesmen 
 for the different orders ; one each for the nobility, the 
 clergy, and the burghers : — 
 
 ' And then the Peasant, who was chosen speaker by 
 that Estate, who did very well, and made a compliment 
 to tlie Prince for the care he had taken last campaign 
 in the defence of the country. . . . Every one of the 
 Estates sat apart in divisions prepared for them. They 
 were in number not above six hundred. They were near 
 two thousand together the last year. There are fifteen 
 hundred families of the nobility. The chief of the 
 family only sits in the House, and tliey give their 
 proxies as we do. There is not one in ten of them 
 that has not served his country as a soldier.' 
 
 Much to Carteret's satisfaction, there were soon 
 signs that Frederick William would accept the treaty 
 for which Carteret had laboured so hard. Well within 
 the prescribed six weeks the ratification arrived, and 
 Carteret's bold move had turned out perfectly successful. 
 After further diplomatic formalities, the ratifications 
 were exchanged and the thing ended, a fact which 
 Carteret after all the interminable proceedings declared 
 he could hardly have believed had he not seen it with 
 his own eyes. On March 20, 1720, heralds proclaimed 
 in the streets of Stockholm that peace was made between 
 Sweden, Hanover, and Prussia. ' It was the new queen 
 of Sweden, Ulrique Eleanoi-a (Charles's younger sister, 
 wedded to the young Landgraf of Hessen-Cassel), — much 
 aided by an English Envoy, — who made this peace with 
 Friedrich Wilhelm. A young English envoy, called 
 Lord Carteret, was very helpful in tliis matter ; one of 
 his first feats in the diplomatic world.' ^ 
 
 ' (Jarlyle's Frederick, Book IV., Chap. VI. 
 
 •
 
 DIPLOMACY 57 
 
 So three of tlie five pieces of work which Carteret 
 had come to do were successfully finished. A fourth, 
 the reconciliation between Sweden and Eussia, he never 
 had the chance of attempting, for the Czar had at once 
 refused the mediation which Carteret in England's name 
 had offered him. The fifth, the peace with Denmark, 
 the most wearisome and obstinate of all, had been 
 languidly dragging on its slightly tiresome existence 
 during these slow months of Prussian negotiating. 
 Carteret had managed in October 1719 to arrange a 
 six months' armistice between Denmark and Sweden, 
 but that was practically about all that had been accom- 
 plished. The Danes had taken Malstrand, and claimed 
 to keep it. Rligen and Stralsund they also held, handed 
 over to them by Frederick William, who had captured 
 them. These too the Danes would keep, or, on lowest 
 terms, Sweden should give an equivalent in land else- 
 where for their restoration. And they had possession 
 of Sleswick, from which they had driven Charles the 
 Twelfth's friend, the Duke of Holstein. Further the 
 Danes demanded that Sweden should resign a long- 
 enjoyed privilege, and should pay toll for her ships that 
 passed the Sound as other nations did. Such were 
 Denmark's chief requirements, and they seemed to 
 Sweden altogether intolerable. Exorbitant and absurd 
 demands, Carteret called them ; and for a considerable 
 time he saw small likelihood of a satisfactory arrange- 
 ment. Sweden might possibly surrender Sleswick, 
 might consent to pay toll at the Sound, and might even 
 oli'er money to make Ellgen and Stralsund her own again, 
 but little more than that seemed practicable. Yet the 
 Danish Court was very obstinate, thinking it had but to 
 insist strongly and could not fail to obtain ; and though 
 Lord Polwarth (afterwards Earl of Marchmont, English
 
 58 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 ambassador at Copenhagen while Carteret was in 
 Sweden) was able in some degree to reduce the Danish 
 demands, the prospects of a settlement were not en- 
 couraging. ' I shall do my best to bring ail to a happy 
 conclusion.' Avrote Carteret to Stanhope in the course of 
 these Danish negotiations, ' and though I foresee great 
 difficulties in the way, I have gone through worse and 
 will not despair.' Months however passed on, and even 
 Carteret began seriously to think of leaving Sweden and 
 wasting no more time on wdiat appeared a hopeless 
 undertaking. 
 
 A slight impulse was given to the languid proceed- 
 ings by the appointment of a Danish minister to treat 
 at the Swedish Court. Carteret worked most indefatig- 
 ablj^ now, to obtain, before the Danish negotiator should 
 arrive, a definite and final settlement of what Sweden 
 would and would not grant, hoping that the Danes too 
 would draAv up their plan in a similarly serious spirit. 
 With great difficulty he persuaded Sweden to grant one 
 pressing demand of Denmark, and to pay toll at the 
 Sound. Sweden also consented that France and 
 England should decide the fate of Sleswick, and that 
 the Danes might reckon Malstrand theirs till the sign- 
 ing of a definite treaty ; but the Swedes could not agree 
 to part witli Eugen and Stralsund. These concessions 
 were practically the Swedish preliminary for peace, and 
 were only obtained by Carteret's ceaseless efibrts. It 
 soon became clear that if they were to have any definite 
 result, the remainder of tliese negotiations must be 
 managed and adjusted at Copenhagen itself. The Danish 
 ambassador, Major-General Lewenohr, did indeed 
 arrive at Stockholm in March 1720 ; but it was 
 shrewdly suspected that he had' no intention of con- 
 cluding an arrangement. The Danes, indeed, plainly
 
 DIPLOMACY 59 
 
 hinted that he had been sent only out of comphaisance 
 to the King of England. ' They liave a very pleasant 
 manner of showing their respect,' wrote Carteret rather 
 annoyedly ; and he resolved that, unless the ambassador 
 clearly showed from the very first a sincere desire to 
 come to terms, he would himself quit Stockholm at 
 once. If however he found any real evidence of Danish 
 sincerity, Carteret, though heartily tired of the whole 
 business, was resolute to leave nothing untouched that 
 mio;ht contribute to a settlement. 
 
 In accordance with his resolution, Carteret had 
 early interviews with Lewenohr at Stockholm, and find- 
 ing that the ambassador's instructions were impracticable, 
 he prepared to leave Sweden. Lewenohr at once de- 
 clared that if Carteret went, he himself would also go. 
 This once more made Carteret's situation an anxious 
 one. If they both left, the whole negotiation would be 
 thrown into the air. There remained now but a very 
 few weeks of the six months' armistice, and if no treaty 
 were made the war must break out again. Eatlier 
 than risk such a possibility by any precipitate action of 
 his own, Carteret gave Denmark one chance more. 
 Lewenohr (whom Carteret personally liked, and whose 
 own private intentions were good) promised to write 
 decisively to his Court at once, and Carteret undertook 
 to await the Danish reply. Meanwhile, urged Lewenohr 
 on Carteret, could not Sweden, besides the promises in 
 its preliminary arrangement, be induced to give Den- 
 mark a consideration in money ? * He said that the 
 King of Denmark would never make his peace without 
 a sum of money, unless lie was forced to it. He asked 
 me frankly if avc intended to force him into the prelim- 
 inary. I answered that we would ])ersuade him. He 
 said that was a civil way of speaking, but might pos-
 
 60 LORD CARTERET 
 
 sibly mean the same thing. I added, that lie was too 
 jealous.' 
 
 Carteret and Lewenohr both awaited anxiously, and 
 somewhat hopefully, the letter from Denmark. But 
 within the reasonable time no letter came, and Carteret, 
 as he had said he would do, began to make his pre- 
 parations for departing. Once more however he was 
 delayed. Lord Polwarth at Copenhagen sent hopes that 
 though the armistice was now so nearly over, all might 
 yet go well ; and Carteret, who was exceedingly desirous 
 to do nothing to endanger even the faintest possibility of 
 success, was induced on this information still to prolong 
 his stay. He even persuaded the Swedes to accept a 
 compromise on the chief point which remained in dis- 
 pute, and to agree to pay a sum of money to Denmark. 
 Not enough, said Lewenohr ; but Carteret declined to do 
 anything more ; and, having brought matters so far, 
 decided to take a definite and final step on his own re- 
 sponsibility, as he had once already done with success. 
 The armistice had been informally prolonged, and 
 Carteret now thought he saw peace within reach at 
 last, ' of which once I very much doubted ; but yet would 
 never despair, nor quit the station, while there was 
 the least light to carr}^ us through.' If Lewenohr 
 would not join Carteret in drawing up and signing a 
 treaty of peace, then Carteret said that he would enter 
 into a conference with the Swedes by himself; and, 
 having done all he possibly could for Denmark, would 
 venture to do what he had already done in the case of 
 Prussia and, accepting the treaty himself on behalf of 
 tlie two countries, would leave to the King of Denmark 
 the responsibility of rejecting .the terms which the 
 mediation of England had procured for liim. Lewenohr, 
 in his heart thinking that Carteret was right, as minister
 
 DIPLOMACY 61 
 
 found himself compelled to object ; taking all the pro- 
 posals of the Swedes merely ad referendum^ ' which 
 cursed word,' saj^s Carteret, ' has kept me here these 
 four months.' Carteret therefore vigorously com- 
 menced single action, and on June 14, 1720, just a year 
 after he had left England, signed the treaty between 
 Sweden and Denmark. As in the case of Prussia, he 
 had some anxiety about the step he Avas taking, but 
 pretty confidently hoped for success. Indeed the King 
 of Denmark himself seemed already to approve what 
 Carteret had done, and invited him to come direct to 
 himself at Fredericksburg, without passing through 
 Copenhagen. 
 
 Carteret had now accomplished all that he could do 
 in Sweden, and was ready to leave at last. He took the 
 kindest farewells of his friends — the Queen, for whom 
 he had clearly a chivalrous regard, and the Prince, who 
 by this time had become the King ; and on June 24, 
 1720, left Stockholm at night for Fredericksburg, arriv- 
 ing there before the end of the month. He was received 
 at the palace with every possible mark of distinction, 
 and lost no time in attempting to put the finishing 
 touch to his protracted and intricate business. On the 
 day after his arrival he explained to the King what he 
 had ventured to do, and reasoned with him upon the 
 general condition of affairs. The King seemed not dis- 
 satisfied with Carteret's conduct ; but the Danisli minis- 
 ters had many objections to make. Two conferences 
 with them led to nothing ; but, suddenly, on the fourth 
 day after Carteret's arrival at Fredericksburg, the treaty 
 was accepted almost in the exact terms which he had 
 settled at Stockholm. The manner in which this w^as 
 brought about was, as Carteret said, singular. After 
 Carteret's second conference with the ministers, he dined
 
 62 LORD CABTERET 
 
 witli the King, and. in reply to questions, informed liini 
 of the great difiiciilties which the Danish statesmen were 
 pntting in the way. The dinner over, Carteret rode out 
 witli the Kino; to see his stud, and durinir tliat httle 
 excursion he found several opportunities of discussing 
 these points of difficulty with Frederick himself. 
 Eeturning to the palace, the King took Carteret up with 
 him to his private apartment, and seriously urged one 
 point upon him. Would the King of England definitely 
 guarantee to him the peaceable possession of Sleswick ? 
 Would Geoi'ge procure for him an absolute cession of 
 it, and so protect him against possible disturbance from 
 the ousted Duke of Holstein ? Carteret answered as 
 carefully as he could, but had no authority to make such 
 an engagement, and, indeed, dwelt on the comparative 
 needlessncss of it, seeins; that the Kinoj already held 
 Sleswick by right of conquest ; a fairly satisfactory 
 method, added Carteret, ' whatever the lawyers and 
 pedants may say to it.' 
 
 Frederick did not press the matter further upon 
 Carteret as ambassador, but was content to urge him to 
 use his influence privately with George in regard to it. 
 This Carteret readily undertook to do, and the King- 
 then immediately replied that he accepted the treaty. 
 The ministers were at once called in, and in Carteret's 
 ])resence, to their complete surprise, were informed that 
 the whole thing was finished. 
 
 Little more now remained for Carteret to do. The 
 very trifling alterations which had been made in the 
 treaty were readily agreed to by the Court of Sweden ; 
 Stanhope, at Hanover, and the ministers in London were 
 full of congratulations on the state of affairs, and Car- 
 teret's personal credit rose high. At Copenhagen, where 
 he now was wuth the King, it was noticed that no foreign
 
 DIPLOMACY 68 
 
 minister had ever been so well treated as Carteret. 
 ' Milord^' said Frederick to him one day, ' coinme 'par 
 voire entremise fat fait la paix, et qii'a cette heure meff 
 amies me stmt inutiles, permettez-moi que je vous fasse 
 present de mon epee '; handing to him a sword valued at 
 20,000 crowns, specially made for tlie occasion. He 
 Avent on hunting expeditions with the King at Freder- 
 icksburg ; made a military tour with him in Zealand, 
 and in every way was treated with most unusual kind- 
 ness. But he was desirous to get away from it all. His 
 private affairs, after so long an absence, required his 
 examination. He was also not quite sure what his exact 
 public situation miglit be. While he was still at Stock- 
 holm he had had the offer of the English embassy at Paris ; 
 while he was at Copenhagen he was appointed to go 
 with Stanhope to the Congress of Cambrai. Neither of 
 the projects was to take effect, but Carteret could not fore- 
 see that, and was anxious to be able to begin his neces- 
 sary preparations. One thing only detained him at 
 Copenhagen : France, which through all tliese northern 
 negotiations had been working as felloAV-mediator with 
 England, was somewhat slow in ratifying this last treaty 
 between Denmark and Sweden. Till this was done, the 
 affair was not absolutely and technically settled, and 
 Carteret, therefore, waited on. Tlie waiting proved so 
 unexpectedly wearisome that, on the announcement in 
 September 1720 of his appointment to Cambrai, Car- 
 teret desired to take leave of the Kino- of Denmark ; but 
 Frederick would not part with liim till all was actually 
 finished, and politely waved the leave-taking aside. 
 Weeks passed, and still France delayed. Frederick began 
 to lose his good-humour, and Sweden to fear that all 
 might yet be broken off. At last, but not until Den- 
 mark had seriously tlireatened the renewal of mihtary
 
 04 LOIW CAETEEET 
 
 prei^arations, near the end of October, Carteret received 
 the desired ratification. The very next day Denmark 
 formally accepted, and Carteret's seventeen months' 
 nejTOtiatino- was at a successful end. He had his fare- 
 well audience of the King, and at once left to make his 
 way, over bad roads, by Osnabrlick and the Hague to 
 England. The Hague was reached by the end of 
 November ; but stormy, contrary winds kept him wait- 
 ing there many days. At last the fair wind came, 
 and on December 13 he sailed from Hclvoetsluys for 
 home.
 
 65 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SECRETARY OF STATE. 
 1721-1724. 
 
 English domestic affairs were in a very excited con- 
 dition when Carteret arrived in London. Two sen- 
 tences from Copenhagen letters of liis own are concerned 
 with the cause of the piibUc confusion. In August, 
 1720 he wrote to a friend : 'My mother and wife have 
 also got something in the South Sea ; but they don't tell 
 me how much. I have had no letters from them this 
 month, but at that time their good fortune had been 
 considerable.' And again, two months later : ' I don't 
 know exactly how the fall of South Sea has affected my 
 family ; but they have lost considerably of what they 
 had once gained.' By the time that Carteret returned, 
 the decisive crash of the South Sea Company had come. 
 The big bubble burst like the thousand smaller ones, and 
 caused hardly less political than social ruin. The nation, 
 with a rage almost equal to its credulous infatuation, 
 abused the King, demanded the blood of the directors, and 
 fiercely turned against those members of the Government 
 who could be made to feel the weight of its passionate, 
 self-inflicted disappointment. Against Aislabie, the 
 Chancellor of the Exchequer, the outcry was particu- 
 larly keen. He was expelled and sent to the Tower, 
 amid the bonfires of the bitterly rejoicing city. Sunder- 
 land was head of the Government ; Craggs was Secretary 
 
 F
 
 66 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 of State. Tlie secret committee of the Commons re- 
 ported against each of them. Fortunately, perhaps, for 
 himself, Craggs died on the very day on which the 
 report was presented ; and Sunderland, though cleared 
 by a large majority, yielded to the popular clamour and 
 resigned. Stanhope, the other Secretary, defended the 
 ministry in the House of Lords so eagerly that he made 
 liimself ill, and next day died. 
 
 The ministry was practically destroyed. Two 
 Secretaries of State had died within little more than a 
 week of each other. Walpole, having found himself 
 unable to weaken Stanhope's Government, had, with 
 unembarrassed inconsistency, rejoined it as an inferior ; 
 and the unanimous voice of the nation now demanded 
 that he should return to power to repair the ruined 
 finances. With him came back his brother-in-law, 
 Townshend, to take Stanhope's empty place. Thus 
 Walpole and Townshend had almost dramatically 
 complete revenge for the intrigues of Stanhope and 
 Sunderland at Hanover, some two or three years 
 before. In the now remodelled Government room was 
 made for Carteret. Sunderland, though practically 
 driven from offi.ce, kept with no diminution at all his 
 influence and reputation with the King ; and it was 
 through Sunderland that Carteret was appointed to the 
 office vacant by the death of Craggs. In March 1721 
 Carteret received the seals as Secretary of State for 
 the Southern department. He was only thirty-one, 
 and ought, as Swift said, to have been busily losing 
 his money at a chocolate-house ; but he had already 
 had ten years' parhamentary and political experience. 
 Another office had been destined for him. He had 
 actually been a])pointed ambassador extraordinary to 
 France, and was on the point of starting, when the
 
 SECBETABY OF STATE 67 
 
 collapse of the ministry altered that and many other 
 arrangements of the English political world. As Carteret 
 himself wrote, the sudden death of his two best friends 
 changed his destiny. It is not probable that a life of 
 diplomacy would have been pleasing to him. He had 
 already had brilliant success in that department ; but 
 he had also had sufficient experience of its vexations 
 and difficulties, especially annoying to a man of an 
 actively practical mind, with a genius for work. To 
 be a member of the Government in London was doubt- 
 less preferable to Carteret, and his selection for one of 
 the leading posts in the Cabinet is a proof of the high 
 estimate which had already been formed of his ability. 
 Needless to say that the selection was not made by 
 Walpole, who dreaded nothing so much as talents in 
 those with whom he had to share his rule. In Walpole's 
 Government to be a mediocrity was to be safe. But 
 Carteret could not be a political nonentity or a mere 
 clerk to do Walpole's unquestioned bidding. Walpole's 
 frightened jealousy would tolerate nothing else ; and 
 after three years Carteret accordingly had to go, as 
 Pulteney was to go, and Townshend, and Chesterfield, 
 and many less distinguished men than these. Men of 
 genius and Walpole could not long work harmoniously 
 together ; a ridiculous Duke of Newcastle, a middling 
 Harrington or Hardwicke, suited Walpole's purposes, as 
 no abler man might hope to do. 
 
 The management of foreign afl'airs was at this period 
 entrusted — subject to the direct personal interference of 
 the King — to two Secretaries of State, who divided 
 Europe between them. To the Secretary for the North 
 fell the Scandinavian kingdoms, with Russia, Prussia, 
 Hanover ; to the Secretary for the South, mainly the 
 other and more important parts of Europe. Newcastle 
 
 F 2
 
 68 LORD CABTERET 
 
 was Northern Secretary, and, in his absurd way, believed 
 that Hanover, included in his department, must there- 
 fore be north of England. Carteret, as Southern Secre- 
 tary, had the direction of the negotiations with France, 
 Spain, Austria, and the various princes in Italy ; and as 
 affairs between England and all these powers were in a 
 most complicated condition when he entered office, it 
 -seemed likely that Carteret would have hardly a less 
 leading part in pacifying the South than he had already 
 had in arrangincf the North. At the same time he had 
 to take a leading part in support of the Government at 
 home, for his abilities as a speaker caused much of the 
 work in the House of Lords to fall upon him. But his 
 main business was with foreign affairs. 
 
 The Emperor of Germany was Charles VI. He had 
 been one of the claimants for the Spanish crown in the 
 war of the Spanish Succession. As a lad of eighteen, on 
 his way to Spain to call himself King there, he had been 
 received with all pomp by Queen Anne at Windsor, and 
 had stayed there three days, grave, modest, silent. 
 England and Marlborough had fought for him ; Peter- 
 borough had done knight-errantry for him in Spain ; 
 and it had all resulted in nothing. He had become 
 Emperor while the Succession war was still unfinished ; 
 King of Spain he never became. And when England, 
 in a somewhat singular manner, and with very base 
 treatment of Marlborough, discovered that she had had 
 enough of the war and made the Peace of Utrecht with 
 Louis XIV., Charles took it almost as a personal affront. 
 He would have nothing whatever to do with the peace ; 
 would go on with the war alone ; and even tried to 
 do so for a time, till he saw it was hopeless. He found 
 himself compelled to make his peace with Spain ; but 
 though he lost all chance of its throne, he still clung
 
 SECBETARY OF STATE 69 
 
 desperate!}^ to the title. Here w^as one leading trouble 
 of his ; and another question, still more important to 
 him, was just at tliis time forcing itself upon his notice. 
 He had no son ; who was to succeed him ? Very pri- 
 vately, in this same year of the Utrecht peace, he had 
 drawn up the document afterwards too well known as 
 the Pragmatic Sanction, declaring fixedly that if sons 
 altogether failed him, daughters should be equally good 
 to succeed to his hereditary possessions. When Carteret 
 became English Secretary of State, the existence of this 
 Pragmatic Sanction was already pretty generally known, 
 and it was the great toil of the Emperor's life to per- 
 suade Europe to accept it. 
 
 In Spain the nominal Sovereign was Louis XIV. 's 
 grandson, the Bourbon Philip V., crazy in brain and 
 broken in constitution, desiring nothing, said Alberoni, 
 but a wife and a prayer-book. The real Sovereign was 
 Philip's second wife, Elizabeth Farnese, a very fiery 
 Italian woman, who singularly falsified gently patronis- 
 ing predictions concerning her. A good girl she had 
 been called when it became necessary to find a second 
 wife for Spain — fat with the butter and the milk of the 
 Picentine, addicted to nothing more emphatic than 
 needlework and embroidery. Things proved very 
 different. For years she kept Europe in a state of 
 delirious agitation. She had an infant son, Don Carlos 
 by name, a child who was not the heir to the Spanish 
 throne. For years too wearisome to think of this 
 entirely superfluous infant was the greatest nuisance in 
 Europe. Nothing would satisfy his mother till certain 
 Italian Duchies — Tuscany, Parma, Piacenza — should be 
 handed over to him ; but the Emperor was feudal 
 superior of tlie Duchies, and to gain his consent to 
 Elizabeth's desired arrangement proved difficult almost
 
 70 LORD CARTERET 
 
 to impossibility. Demands and refusals caused a con- 
 tinual bickering between the two potentates, who kept 
 Europe in a state of constant alarm, and terribly- 
 agitated the interestingly delicate balance of power. 
 Even when the Emperor was forced to agree, in a 
 sullen sort of way, to the Treaty of Utrecht, and so to 
 peace with Spain, the quarrel was by no means settled. 
 Charles did not even acknowledge Philip as King of 
 Spain — far less would he permit Spanish troops to 
 garrison the Italian Duchies, and keep them warm for 
 the infant till his time should come. Charles would 
 not hear of such a thing ; and Ehzabeth, backed by 
 Alberoni, began to make serious preparations for war. 
 
 The Emperor took alarm at Elizabeth's doings, and 
 a series of treaties and counter-treaties followed, designed 
 to give, if possible, some feeling of security to Europe 
 in its state of agitated uncertainty. The first of these 
 arrangements was a reconciliation between Charles and 
 England, signed at Westminster. Next came the agree- 
 ment between England and France, which busied Dubois 
 and Stanhope at Hanover and the Hague. Third followed 
 the Triple Alliance between England, France, and Hol- 
 land, settled in January 1717, mainly intended to arrange 
 the points in dispute between Charles and Elizabeth. 
 Charles, mortified by this alliance — for it guaranteed 
 the peace of Utrecht, which secured Spain to Philip — 
 refused at first to come into it, but alarm at Elizabeth's 
 Spanish preparations soon brought him to terms. Thus 
 the Triple Alliance was, in the summer of 1718, made 
 quadruple, and if now Spain could be induced to join, 
 and the arrangement so become quintuple, the thing 
 might be looked upon as satisfactorily settled. But 
 this was the point where the real difficulty began. 
 The terms of the Quadruple Alliance seemed altogether 
 unendurable to Spain. Don Carlos was indeed to be
 
 SECRETARY OF STATE 71- 
 
 recoo^nised as eventual heir to the desired Italian 
 Duchies, and the Emperor agreed to grant that Philip 
 was King of Spain. But on the other hand no Spanish 
 troops were to be admitted into Italy, and Charles was 
 expressly allowed to appropriate Sicily — King Victor 
 of Sicily by way of compensation receiving Sardinia, 
 which a Spanish fleet had recently taken from the Em- 
 peror himself Other points of dispute were left over 
 to be settled at a Congress at Cambrai, where France 
 and England were to mediate between the two quarrel- 
 ling powers. 
 
 Three months were granted to Spain in which to 
 accept this treaty. Stanhope went to Paris and to 
 Madrid to try to secure a settlement ; an English fleet 
 was fitted out for the Mediterranean ; strong arguments 
 for peace were brought to bear on Alberoni. But 
 Spain would not listen, and, rather than accept the 
 terms which had been sorted out for her, impetuously 
 ventured into something very like war. Here was 
 the first slight outbreak of a war — always con- 
 fused and complicated, sometimes almost meaningless, 
 which in very varying forms and circumstances was 
 the plague of Europe for thirty years to come. A 
 Spanish fleet sailed from Barcelona, made for Sicily, 
 and attacked and took Messina. But Byng was there 
 with his English ships ready to help the Emperor to 
 recover his island. On the 10th of August, 1718, in 
 the roads of Messina, Byng fell upon the Spanish fleet, 
 and practically annihilated it, the Spaniards themselves 
 being now besieged in the town of which they had 
 hardly yet got complete possession. This was a very 
 severe and quite unexpected blow to Spain ; the begin- 
 ning of the end of Cardinal Alberoni, and a mortifying 
 check to his fiery mistress. In England the news was 
 received with great satisfaction, and it was Carteret
 
 72 LORD CARTERET 
 
 who, when parliament met in November, moved in the 
 Lords the address of thanks to the King, congratulating 
 him on the alliance with the French Eegent, and on the 
 success of Admiral Byng. Other events rapidly fol- 
 lowed, all of an unfortunate nature for Spain. England 
 declared war before the year was over, and made a 
 successful descent on Vigo. The Spaniards were forced 
 to evacuate Sicily. France discovered a Spanish plot 
 against the Eegent, and at once declared war. A 
 Spanish invasion of England in favour of the Pretender 
 had been projected, and an expedition actually sailed 
 from Cadiz, but it was scattered and ruined by a storm. 
 These accumulated misfortunes, and the sudden death 
 of Charles XIL of Sweden, compelled Spain, threatened 
 on all sides by the united hostility of England, France, 
 and the Emperor, to yield to the terms which Europe 
 offered. Alberoni was dismissed at the end of 1719, 
 and in February 1720 Spain joined the Quadruple 
 Alliance. The war, such as it had been, was over for 
 the time, and a Congress at Cambrai hoped to bring 
 things to a final settlement. Such was the state of 
 European affairs when Carteret became Secretary of 
 State for the Soutliern Department. 
 
 At the Cambrai congress England and France were 
 to be mediators between the Emperor and Spain, but 
 before the pacific proceedings could begin there were 
 many difliculties to remove, and these difficulties were 
 sometimes seemingly insuperable. At the very outset 
 there was considerable doubt if France was perfectly 
 sincere in its alliance with England. Carteret's foreign 
 policy was a continuation and development of his late 
 friend Earl Stanhope's, and he was anxious, as he him- 
 self wrote to the Archbishop of Cambrai, to strengthen 
 between the two countries the alliance which Stanhope
 
 SECBETABY OF STATE 73 
 
 had done so much to bring about. But at the same 
 time Carteret's letters to his friend Schaub, the Enghsh 
 ambassador at Paris, show that his confidence in Arch- 
 bishop Dubois was very far from perfect. Carteret, 
 writing to Dubois, promised from himself fairness and 
 candour in his deahngs, and hoped for the same in re- 
 turn ; but smooth words alone from France would go 
 but a moderate length with him. Proof of sincerity by 
 action was what Carteret wanted, and it happened that 
 there was a pressing question in agitation at this time 
 between England and Spain which might very fairly 
 test the reality of French professions. This was the 
 question of Gibraltar — a question which must be satis- 
 factorily solved before England and Spain could 
 harmoniously enter the Congress togetlier. 
 
 Earl Stanhope had been of opinion that Gibraltar 
 might, on reasonable terms, be restored to Spain, and 
 as an inducement to Spain to join the Quadruple Alli- 
 ance the French Government had promised to use what 
 influence it had with England on this matter. But 
 when the plan had been mentioned in England, both 
 l)arliament and the nation had opposed it with excited 
 determination, and by the time that Carteret entered 
 office the English Government had firmly decided that 
 the fortress must be kept. Yet Spain, whose hopes 
 liad been raised high, seemed equally resolved ; and 
 here for Carteret was a preliminary difficidty which 
 must be removed before there could be any tiling like 
 reconciliation between the two countries. A proof of 
 the reality of French friendship was fortunately given 
 when tlie Eegent was brought to agree that England 
 might fairly insist on the renewal of her treaties with 
 Spain — Avliich had been broken off by the war — with- 
 out touching on tlie Gibraltar question at all. Yet it
 
 74 LORD CARTERET 
 
 seemed very doubtful if Spain would yield its point. 
 Spain harped on the promise of restoration which she 
 insisted that Earl Stanhope had given, and ventured to 
 demand a definite and formal assurance that Gibraltar 
 should be surrendered before she would settle any other 
 point whatever with England. But even the Court of 
 Spain soon discovered that it was worse than useless to 
 adopt a tone of this kind. The English ambassador 
 at Madrid, Mr. Stanhope (better known afterwards as 
 the Earl of Harrington), plainly declared that England 
 would rather carry on the war for ten years longer 
 than either give up Gibraltar now or definitely promise 
 to do so in the future. Spain therefore made another 
 proposal. Let the King of England make a conditional 
 promise of the restoration, the conditions being that 
 Spain should ofier an eqidvalent to England, and the 
 English parliament give its consent. George, who 
 himself was personally indifferent about the thing, did 
 write such a conditional letter to the King of Spain — 
 his ministers knowing Avell that it was a mere empty 
 form, for parliament would never sanction the .sur- 
 render. If such a letter, utterly meaningless on the 
 English side, would materially assist the negotiations 
 on hand, there was no reason why it should not be sent. 
 England even went further ; for when the irritable 
 Court of Spain, having obtained this letter, querulously 
 insisted that the equivalent should be left out, George 
 wrote again in June 1721, yielding to their pettish irri- 
 tation. So long as the consent of parliament was 
 insisted upon, what else might or might not be men- 
 tioned was to England a matter of complete indifference. 
 Carteret saw that Spain would not yield with a good 
 grace ; let her yield with a bad one, then, since her 
 notions of deportment were of no practical significance.
 
 SECRETARY OF STATE 75 
 
 The signing of the treaty between England and 
 Spain followed, and the ground was cleared somewhat 
 for the approaching Congress. Stanhope, who was 
 cordially assisted by Carteret, had great difficulties to 
 overcome before the signatures were actually affixed. 
 The Spanish Court was almost unendurably dilatory in 
 its manner of transacting public business ; and when 
 the English ambassador opposed its impossible preten- 
 sions, the fiery Queen herself burst out upon him that 
 he was an enemy of peace, and anxious, because he was 
 a soldier himself, to obtain a continuance of the war.^ 
 But Stanhope took it all patiently, and Carteret was 
 glad to see the firmness and prudence of the relative of 
 his own late friend. The treaty was successfully signed 
 at Madrid (June 13, 1721), and on that same day an- 
 other piece of preparation for the Congress was also 
 made. This was an alliance between Eno-land, France, 
 and Spain, to be kept, if possible, a secret from the 
 Emperor till the Cambrai Congress was well over. It 
 was hoped that this arrangement might be something 
 of a guarantee for the preservation of peace, and that 
 if all remonstrances and reasonings with the Emperor 
 at Cambrai should fail, the discovery that he had an 
 alliance of the three crowns to contend with might be 
 more effectual with him than any other argument could 
 be. These two treaties were settled together, and so 
 far things seemed to promise fairly well. 
 
 But there were hardly fewer preliminary difficulties 
 to overcome on the Austrian side ; difficulties so great 
 that the advisability of doing without tlie Congress 
 altogether was seriously discussed. The petty points 
 which were painfully magnified till they overshadowed 
 
 ' Stanhope to Carteret, May 29, 1721. Brit. Mas., Add. MSS. 22,520 ; 
 fol. 105.
 
 76 LOBD CAETEBET 
 
 things of real importance, the ponderous stolidity with 
 which disappointed persons insisted on clinging to the 
 shadow of the substance which they had lost, must have 
 vividly reminded Carteret of many of his experiences in 
 Sweden and in Denmark. The Emperor's ambassador 
 in London was an old man, and at times of a very bad 
 humour ; and his petulant outbursts, though they re- 
 ceived no practical attention from Carteret, who took 
 them simply as things which must be put uj) witli, were 
 a hindrance and a dang-er to the negotiations. Instead 
 of plain honesty and prudent discretion, there were 
 diplomatic mystifications and so-called fine political 
 strokes which, much as the contrary has been stated, 
 Carteret botli hated and despised. His real political 
 genius, accompanied by calm and complete knowledge, 
 turned instinctively from the mock-mysteries which 
 appeal in a singularly similar way to the flightily clever 
 and to the solemnly stupid. Carteret was simply 
 annoyed when diplomatic persons insisted on treating 
 the excrescences of a subject as if they were the essen- 
 tial point itself. The excrescences of the dispute be- 
 tween Austria and Spain, though small, were intricate 
 and obstinately troublesome ; and besides these there 
 were two or three preliminary questions on which the 
 diplomatic arguing and despatching was almost endless. 
 One of these points was the so-called question of the 
 titles. The Emperor obstinately clung to the title of 
 King of Spain, and even, by distributing the Order of the 
 Golden Fleece, seemed resolved to make the title some- 
 what more than nominal only. On the other hand, the 
 King of Spain insisted on calling himself Archduke of 
 Austria and Count of Hapsburg. ISTominal only, for the 
 mere honour of the thing, the Spanish minister at 
 Madrid assured Stanhope, just as the King of England
 
 SECBETABY OF STATE 77 
 
 still called himself King of France ; the minister insinuat- 
 ing, in a slightly malicious way, that that also was 
 a title the reality of which was not perfectly plain to 
 everybody. Then there was the question of the letters 
 of investiture, the Emperor's formal pledge of the re- 
 version of the Italian Duchies to Don Carlos. Austria 
 was exceedingly slow over this matter ; the Emperor, 
 indeed, for whom Byng's sea-fight had secured Sicily, 
 had in that way acquired all that he himself could gain, 
 and was in no hurry to redeem the promises which 
 he had given when he joined the Quadruple Alliance. 
 The Austrian minister in London continually assured 
 Carteret that these investitures were being prepared, but 
 nothing more convincing than this reiterated formality 
 was forthcoming. And, as a third point, Spain espe- 
 cially desired tliat Don Carlos and a sufficient number 
 of Spanish troops might at once enter Italy. The Duke 
 of Tuscany was old ; his son was in bad health ; the 
 actual presence of the Spanish infant in Italy would be 
 better than any other guarantee of the Emperor's sin- 
 cerity. But here again the Austrian reply was merely 
 dilatory and evasive. To add to all these tedious dif- 
 ficulties, there were even hints that Spain, in spite of 
 the treaty so lately made with England, was anxious to 
 moot again the question of Gibraltar. Carteret so firmly 
 put his foot down on this that nothing more was heard 
 of it ; but the various questions in vexed dispute seemed 
 so unhkely to be settled before the meeting of the 
 Congress, and so dangerous to touch at the Congress 
 itself, that to do without that assemblage altogether 
 began to- . seem to some by far the safer plan. This 
 was the hint and proposal of Archbishop, now Cardinal, 
 Dubois, a hint which might be acted on, thought and 
 hoped Carteret. Spain itself showed no anxiety to meet
 
 78 LORD CARTERET 
 
 Europe in Council, for Spain had no sincere desire 
 for peace ; and the Emperor could not hope to come 
 out of a Congress practically any better off than when 
 he had entered it. Carteret, writing to Schaub, de- 
 clared the conviction of the English ministers that, in 
 the complete absence of any even elementary under- 
 standing between the two powers, a Congress, instead of 
 procuring a peace, would be only the signal for the 
 becfinnino- of a new war. 
 
 Unfortunately, it was found impossible to do with- 
 out the Congress. The Emperor, though as yet he 
 knew nothing of the secret treaty between England, 
 France, and Spain, had already become suspiciously 
 sensitive, and vaguely feared the completion of some 
 arrangement contrary to his own interests. By the end 
 of 1721, nearly two years after Spain had joined the 
 Quadruple Alliance and the Congress had been pro- 
 posed, Charles resolved at once to send his ministers to 
 Cambrai, and then to call them home again if the Con- 
 gress did not open. English ministers were also therefore 
 appointed, that no blame for delay might rest on 
 England. Lord Whitworth, ambassador at Berlin, and 
 Lord Polv/arth, minister at Copenhagen, were chosen 
 for the dreary work. But Carteret had not much 
 hope of any satisfactory result. He foresaw that it 
 would be impossible to satisfy both the Emperor and 
 Spain : he doubted — and his doubts were realised — if it 
 would be possible to satisfy either of them. England, 
 however, had accepted the part of mediator, aiid would 
 do what she could to sustain it ; the union between 
 England and France might prove of some effectiveness, 
 and at least one could try. To hurry nothing, to watch 
 events carefully from day to day, to discountenance all 
 ambitious desire for elaborate and perhaps only artifi-
 
 SEGBETABY OF STATE 79 
 
 cial decisions, and to keep close to the alliance with 
 France, was all that Carteret's policy could at present 
 propose. To give any definite instructions to the pleni- 
 potentiaries was impossible ; for though through many 
 long months official persons of all kinds were crowding 
 into Cambrai, their meetings and discussions were as 
 yet all of the informal kind. No full powers could 
 be assumed, no definite Congress could be formally 
 constituted, till some preliminary arrangement between 
 Spain and Austria gave the negotiators firm ground to 
 go upon ; and it seemed as if this first arrangement 
 would never be made. It was actually nearly three 
 years before the Courts and diplomatists ended their 
 pedantic discussions and wearisome delays. It was the 
 beginning of 1723 before the Emperor sent to 
 England the plan of the letters of investiture for Don 
 Carlos ; it was April before Carteret could write to 
 Polwarth and Whitworth that hopes of some conclusion 
 of this matter were coming after all. Six months more 
 passed before the slight necessary changes made in the 
 Austrian plan were agreed to at Vienna, and then at 
 length, the Congress being now ready to begin, in No- 
 vember 1723 Carteret signed the full powers for the 
 Enghsh plenipotentiaries at Cambrai. After all its 
 weary waiting the Congress was ready to open at last, 
 and here for the present we may gladly leave it. 
 
 Meanwhile, for the last six months, George had been 
 in Hanover. The Jacobite conspiracy known indiffer- 
 ently as Layer's, or as Atterbury's plot, had deprived 
 him of his usual visit to Germany the year before ; but 
 this summer things were quiet in England, and as soon 
 as parliament had risen, the King embarked, accompanied 
 by Carteret and Townshend. This seemingly common- 
 place visit to Hanover had very important results for
 
 80 LORD GABTEBET 
 
 Carteret. It gave Walpole an opportunity of which 
 he was not slow to avail himself ; for jealousy of col- 
 leagues of ability marked all Walpole's political life, 
 and he had felt jealous of Carteret almost from the 
 moment of the formation of his ministry. Walpole, 
 son of a hard-drinking, sporting, cattle-breeding Norfolk 
 squire, had had originally no intention in the parlia- 
 mentary way. He was only a third son, destined, in 
 those little-scrupulous times, to find his way to fortune 
 by preferment in the Church. ' If I had not been 
 Prime Minister, I should have been Archbishop of 
 Canterbury,' he used to say in later days. But he 
 became heir ; followed his father's illiterate, drinking, 
 hard-living ways, and got into Parliament for one of 
 the family seats. A coarse, noisy man ; no orator, no 
 scholar ; witli no nearer approach to even a tincture of 
 literature than the conventional possession of a few stale 
 tags from Horace. In his own library at Houghton he 
 once found Henry Fox reading, and said to him : ' You 
 can read. It is a great happiness. I totally neglected 
 it while I was in business, which has been the whole of 
 my life, and to such a degree that I cannot now read a 
 page — a warning to all ministers.'^ He opened his 
 gamekeeper's letters before all official or other corre- 
 spondence.^ But he was exceedingly industrious and 
 clear-headed ; a man of business and direct common 
 sense ; of great physical endurance and power of work ; 
 thoroughly understanding Parliament and his own aims 
 and intentions there. His aims were low and were 
 reached by low means ; yet the cynical frankness of his 
 
 ' Lord Shelburne's ^M<o6to//;"«p% ; in Lord E. Fitzmaurice's Shelburnei 
 
 3^ 
 
 2 
 
 A very different man from Walpole, Viscount Althorp, 3rd Earl 
 Spencer, did something of the same kind. See Sir D. Le Marchant's Earl 
 Sjjencer, p. 543.
 
 SECRETARY OF STATE 81 
 
 parliamentar}^ corruption escapes much of its deserved 
 censure by its almost brutal freedom from hypocrisy. 
 Since that was the way the Government was carried on, 
 why pretend that it was not ? Walpole giving bribes 
 is a far less unpleasant sight than many high-professing 
 politicians receiving them. 
 
 What, in twenty years, did Walpole really do ? He 
 kept himself at the top of English political affairs. 
 Touching nothing that he could possibly leave alone, 
 giving way always rather than run the risk of any 
 serious parliamentary danger, he clung doggedly to the 
 power which he allowed no others to share with him. 
 Personally mild, good-natured, and in other matters even 
 carelessly indifferent, he worked for his own individual 
 predominance in politics with a terribly intense deter- 
 mination. He spared no one who stood, as he thought, 
 in liis way ; no one whose abilities, of a higher stamp 
 than his own, might possibly venture to dispute with 
 him the position which he had fixedly arrogated to him- 
 self. Tlius from the very first he had felt a dread of 
 Carteret. Carteret had become Secretary of State in 
 Walpole's Government in March 1721. In June of that 
 same year, Walpole opposed the election of a particular 
 member to the House of Commons, simply because 
 Carteret favoured it.^ One cause of Walpole's jealousy, 
 doubtless, was the fact that Carteret belonged to tlie 
 Sunderland and Stanhope section of the Whigs. A per- 
 son of a comparative turn of mind, who one day saw 
 Sunderlaud and Carteret, Walpole and Townshend, come 
 out of a coach together at Kensington, found himself 
 thinking of two duelUsts arriving on the ground with 
 their seconds.^ Carteret could not be ignorant that 
 
 1 Coxe's Walpole, II. 217. 
 
 2 Brit.Mus. Sloane MSS. 4,163; fol. 2G9, v». 
 
 G
 
 82 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 Walpole was ratlier his political enemy than his colleague. 
 A curious entry in Lord Marchmont's diary proves that 
 when Sunderland died, in April 1722, Carteret already 
 thoroughly understood his position. 'Lord Chesterfield 
 told me,' writes Marchmont, ' that on the death of Lord 
 Sunderland, Lord Carteret had applied to the late King' 
 (George I.) 'to support him, as he was then surrounded 
 by his enemies ; that the King promised it him, but told 
 him the necessity of the time forced him to temporise ; 
 that hereupon Lord Carteret spoke to the Du<ihess of 
 Kendal, who bid him have patience, and told him the 
 Kinor hated his other ministers.'^ But even if Carteret 
 had not, as it were, innocently succeeded to the grudge 
 which Walpole felt against Sunderland and Stanhope, 
 Walpole's jealousy would have soon found occasion for 
 quarrelling witli him, as he quarrelled with his own 
 brother-in-law Townshend, with Pulteney, and with 
 many others. It was enough that Carteret was a man 
 of unquestioned ability, who would not agree to forfeit 
 all reality of power, if only he might keep its outside 
 dignities and ceremonious distinctions. From the very 
 first, therefore, Walpole, true to his constant theory, 
 felt that he must free himself from Carteret. An oppor- 
 tunity seemed to fall to Walpole's hands when, in 1723, 
 Carteret went with the King to Hanover. A political 
 intrigue, carefully worked by Walpole and Townshend 
 in tlie usual underground fashion, was set in full play, 
 and the statesman whose abilities and influence Walpole 
 forebodingly dreaded was before long sent into political 
 exile. Walpole had, indeed, great difficulty in getting 
 rid of Carteret ; for Carteret's w^eight was quite dis- 
 proportioned to his years, and the King, who knew his 
 worth, was very unwilling to part with him. But Wal- 
 
 ^ Marchmont Papers, I. 3. Aug. 2, 1744.
 
 SECBETABY OF STATE 83 
 
 ]3ole's dogged determination to be freed from a danger- 
 ous rival had its way in the end ; and when Carteret 
 returned to England in the beginning of 1724, the 
 brother-ministers felt sure that he would not be able 
 long to escape them. But before noticing the details of 
 Walpole's plot against his colleague, we may follow 
 Carteret from Hanover to Berlin. 
 
 Visits between Berlin and Hanover when George was 
 on the continent were, in the course of things, natural 
 enough. Queen Sophia Dorothea of Prussia was the 
 King of England's daughter, and often when her father 
 was at his Hanoverian palace of Herrenhausen, she left 
 her own capital to visit him, her husband, Frederick 
 William, sometimes accompanying her. Queen Sophia, 
 in these Hanoverian visits of hers, was mainly intent on 
 the famous double-marriage scheme between Prussia and 
 England. George's grandson, Frederick, would be Prince 
 of Wales when his grandfather died, and presumably 
 one day — though it turned out not so — King of Eng- 
 land. Let him, thought his aunt. Queen Sophia Doro- 
 thea, marry a Prussian princess-cousin of his ; and let her 
 own son Frederick, Prince-Eoyal of Prussia, afterwards 
 Frederick the Great, choose an English princess to be 
 the third Prussian Queen. This was Queen Sophia's 
 plan, which she had much at heart ; but the two Kings, 
 her husband and her father, were by no means so 
 anxious about it as Sophia herself. So the proposal 
 had dragged considerably, but now in the year 1723 
 it seemed easily possible to infuse a little more life into 
 the somewhat languid negotiations. George had suc- 
 cessfulh' ended his Jacobite and South Sea troubles, and 
 European aflairs, it was vaguely hoped, niiglit after all 
 be tending to a satisfactory settlement at Cambrai. In 
 this somewhat serene interval, the marriage scheme was 
 
 G2
 
 84 LORD CARTEBET 
 
 accordingly more attentively looked at ; the Queen of 
 Prussia was more diligent than ever, and visiting between 
 the two friendly continental Courts became decidedly 
 brisk. It was near the end of June 1723 when George 
 arrived at Hanover, closely followed by his two minis- 
 ters ; and before the month was over Frederick William 
 was there too. ' The King of Prussia is just arrived,' 
 writes Carteret to Walpole. ' The cannon of the town 
 are now firing ; six o'clock in the evening.'^ Carteret 
 had a long private audience with Frederick William, 
 and found him full of expressions of friendship for his 
 father-in-law the Kincr of Eno^land. In less than a month 
 after, the Queen — Frederick William having returned to 
 Berlin after a visit of a few days — arrived at Herren- 
 hausen to make a longer stay ; and, for the sake of her 
 matrimonial plans, was very anxious, as Carteret and 
 Townshend also were for more pressing political reasons, 
 to persuade George to return the visit at Berlin. To 
 leave Hanover, unless it were to go to his shooting-seat 
 not very far away, was never a thing which seemed desir- 
 able to George ; and it was somewhat difficult, even on 
 this occasion, to get him to agree. But he was at this 
 moment greatly agitated by certain disturbing move- 
 ments of the Czar and his fleet ; and to be on good 
 terms with the King of Prussia was to have for a friend 
 the absolute master of a standing army of 80,000 men. 
 The Enghsh King's slightly lethargic dehght in the trim 
 charms of Hanover was actually sacrificed for reasons 
 of politeness and policy ; Queen Sophia hoped her 
 maternal plans were about to be sealed by a formal 
 treaty, and English statesmen saw pleasant visions of an 
 enviable political alliance. 
 
 George, accompanied by Carteret and Townshend, 
 
 ' Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 22,52:j : fol. ?>, v". June 29, 1723.
 
 SECRET ABY OF STATE 85 
 
 left Herrenliausen on October the 7th, 1723, and next 
 evening arrived at Charlottenburg, one of the Prussian 
 palaces a mile or so south of Berlin ; a palace built by 
 George's own sister, Sophie Charlotte, first Queen of 
 Prussia, made immortal by a pinch of snuff. The Eoyal 
 Prussian family were all at Charlottenburg ready to 
 receive their heavy relative from Hanover ; and though 
 George terribly alarmed the whole household, and 
 especially his own ministers, by his sudden illness that 
 nig-ht, all was well a^ain next mornin^? when the sicrht- 
 seeing and entertainments began. Carteret gives Walpole 
 a slight programme of the proceedings : — 
 
 ' All this Court is at the height of joy to see his 
 majesty so full of health, as well as of goodness and 
 graciousness. You will easily imagine that the time is 
 spent in variety of entertainments, in which the King 
 of Prussia strives to show his utmost satisfaction at his 
 majesty's presence. I shall not enter into a description 
 of all that passes, but his Prussian majesty's favourite 
 pleasure, his troops, appear in their exercise and in 
 everything exact and perfect beyond imagination. The 
 Queen entertained his majesty yesterday at dinner at 
 a very pretty garden-house her majesty has just out 
 of the gates of Berlin, called Man Bijou, and in the 
 evening there was a fine ball and supper at the Castle. 
 To-morrow we shall attend the King to Potsdam, where 
 his majesty will see the great grenadiers, and after 
 dinner go onwards as far as Fehrbellin, in order to reach 
 the Gohr^ with ease on Thursday.''"^ 
 
 Frederick William's favourite hobby, his regiment 
 of the tallest men to be bought, pressed, or kidnapped 
 in Europe, was duly paraded before his royal visitor. 
 
 * George's llano veriau hunting-seat. 
 
 2 Brit, ivius. Add. MSS. 22,524 ; fol. 10-11.
 
 86 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 'JSTothing could make a finer appearance,' reports a 
 feuiUet which Carteret sent to Polwarth and Whit- 
 wortli to amuse them in their dreary work at Cambrai. 
 'They marched before the King and then drew up and per- 
 formed the exercise of advancing and retreating, and 
 firing by platoons, which they did with that order and 
 dexterity that they fired upwards of 10,000 shot in 
 about fifteen minutes, each man firing fourteen times.' 
 But far the most notable sight which George saw at 
 Berlin was of a different, though also military, order ; 
 the Crown-Prince Cadets, some three hundred boys of 
 good family, performing their exercise, headed by a boy 
 of some thirteen or fourteen years old, George's own 
 grandson, one day to be Frederick the Great. TheEngHsh 
 King, who was probably a good deal bored by Court 
 dinners and the painful necessity of being generally 
 polite, was especially pleased with the behaviour of the 
 young prince. But doubtless what pleased him most 
 of all was his safe return to his own Hanover once 
 more. 
 
 And the double marriage, and the Prussian alliance? 
 In spite of all the hopes and desires, not very much was 
 done to secure the one, and absolutely nothing to secure 
 the other. No double-marriage agreement was signed 
 now, or ever was ; Queen Sophia's unending toil on this 
 point soon went all to ruin. A political alliance, per- 
 haps not of a very definite kind, was indeed arranged ; 
 a promise between the two crowns of mutual friendship 
 and help in dangers that might arise; signed at Charlot- 
 tenburg by Carteret and Townshend on the English 
 side. But that was all. Assurances of good-will were 
 profuse on both sides ; Frederick William, who had a 
 good heart under his exceedingly rough exterior, showed 
 really great cordiality to his somewhat inarticulate
 
 SECBETABY OF STATE 87 
 
 father-in-law. But for practical purposes this visit, 
 from which great things had been expected, proved to 
 be only a more or less enjoyable episode, which left 
 high political affairs very much where it had found 
 them. 
 
 George had chiefly been reconciled to this visit to 
 Berlin by his alarm at certain threatening proceedings 
 of the Czar, and it was in argument over English policy 
 towards Peter the Great that it first became indisputably 
 evident that Walpole and Townshend were in reality the 
 rivals of their colleague Carteret. Well-founded informa- 
 tion came to Hanover that Peter was fitting out a 
 powerful expedition; there could be little doubt that its 
 object was an attack on Sweden. In Sweden there 
 was a considerable faction anxious to produce a change 
 in the Government; and if this party should unite with 
 the Czar, the result might be to place upon the Swedisli 
 throne a nominee of Eussia ; a disastrous result for the 
 commercial and political interests of England. George 
 was exceedingly concerned at such a prospect, and dis^ 
 cussed with Carteret and Townshend the necessary 
 counter-measures. Townshend, quite as much as Car- 
 teret, recognised the serious condition of afiairs and the 
 dangers which might throw all the north of Europe into 
 confusion again, and he pressed Walpole to consider 
 some financial plan by which money might be forth- 
 coming in case of an emergency. But Carteret was in- 
 clined to go further. He urged that some English men-of- 
 war should at least be pat into a state of readiness, that 
 they might join the Danish fleet without loss of time if 
 the Czar's action should force England to oppose liim. 
 Townshend objected to tliis, and tlie result was a struggle 
 between_the two Secretaries^; the first actual ghmpse of 
 their rearopposition to each otlier. They went together
 
 88 LORD CARTERET 
 
 to the King, and argued the point before him, and 
 greatly to Townshend's deUght, the royal opinion sided 
 with his view. Carteret, says Townshend, was much 
 mortified ; he went out shooting for a few days in a per- 
 plexed condition. Townshend solaced himself with 
 very flattering reflections, and effiisively communicated 
 his joy to Walpole. 
 
 For by this time Walpole and Townshend had begun 
 to consider Carteret a serious danger in their way. 
 Carteret's personal charm, his great attention to busi- 
 ness, his perfect knowledge of European politics — a 
 subject on which Walpole did not profess to be any 
 special authority — had gained him the complete favour 
 of the King. It was much in his favour, too, that he could 
 speak German, wdiile Walpole in all his conversations 
 with George, who had no English and spoke no French, 
 was restricted to an unsatisfactory, and perhaps some- 
 times unintelligible, dog-Latin. It is curious to notice how 
 little progress German made in England under its first 
 two German Kings. In 1736, when the Princess Augusta 
 of Saxe-Gotha was about to be married to Frederick, 
 Prince of Wales, it was suggested that she might ad- 
 visedly be taught either French or English. Her 
 mother, however, with a ludicrous misconception of the 
 Teutonic enthusiasm of the Englisli nation, replied that 
 knowledge of English or French must be quite unneces- 
 sary ; for the Hanover family had been on the English 
 throne for more than twenty years, and to be sure most 
 people in England, and especially at Court, must speak 
 German as well and as often as they spoke English. 
 Yet Lord Hervey bluntly declares that there w^ere pro- 
 bably not three people in the kingdom who spoke a word 
 of it better than they had done in the reign of Queen 
 Anne, Of German, however, Carteret was an easy
 
 SECBETABY OF STATE 89 
 
 master; and amusing accounts tell with what jealous, 
 suspicious wonder the other ministers heard Carteret 
 conversing with the sovereign in that unknown tongue. 
 Carteret's weight at the same time was great for another 
 reason. The influence which Earl Stanhope had pos- 
 sessed over Cardinal Dubois, and so over the French 
 Court, had passed to Carteret, who thus was the chief 
 guarantee in the Government for the continuance of the 
 French alliance. The English ambassador at Paris had 
 been appointed by Carteret, and was his attached per- 
 sonal friend. And while Carteret had these striking 
 pohtical and personal advantages, he decidedly had po- 
 litical ambition, though it was ambition of the sort which 
 despised the labyrinthine httlenesses of the party pohtics 
 of the day, and was utterly above money and ribbons 
 and garters. A man of this kind and Walpole coidd 
 not possibly long work together, and the crisis of their 
 disagreement came during this visit to Hanover. 
 
 No English statesman of the first half of the eight- 
 eenth century, however higli his personal character 
 and unquestionable his abilities, could keep his head 
 above water without a firm hold of Court favour, and 
 in the reign of George I. this favour was only to be 
 obtained through channels of a somewhat unsavoury 
 kind. A minister was obliged to use self-interested 
 agents whom, if he were a man like Carteret, he 
 thoroughly despised, and could hardly be got to endure 
 in his presence. A man like Walpole handled such 
 tools with a sort of cynical good-humour, as if there 
 were a kind of unmentioned but half-understood camar- 
 aderie between them ; while a creature of the Bubb 
 Dodington stamp would soil himself among them with 
 a genial familiarity, accepting it as a first principle that 
 dirt wab matter in the right place. No English states-
 
 90 LOBD CAETEBEl 
 
 man of the day kept his hands so clean as Carteret ; no 
 one suffered so much for having despised dirty effrontery 
 and back-stairs bribery. But, under the first Hanover- 
 ian sovereign of England, to have a friend at Court was 
 for a minister almost a necessity of political existence ; 
 and, so far, Carteret had to follow the fashion or deform- 
 ity of the time. 
 
 From Hanover, George brought with him to England 
 two leading favourites who are inextricably entangled in 
 the political life of his reign. One of these Teutonic 
 women is best remembered by the title of Countess 
 of Darlington ; a fierce-eyed, red-faced, intolerably fat 
 woman — a really great character if size is to be the 
 criterion. She was so ponderous that the amused English 
 people compared her to an elephant and castle ; but 
 George could stand a very large quantity of fat. Some 
 of the English ladies of larger bulk, seeing the royal 
 predilection that way, did what they could to increase 
 the magnitude of their attractions. ' Some succeeded 
 and others burst,' sneers Chesterfield, less unjustifiably 
 ^ Vxs than usual. They say that this overpowering Countess 
 l^ '^. ''^-had been beautiful once, though now she had got into 
 this mere giantess condition, finding all warm weatlier 
 oppressive. The world has forgotten her in spite of her 
 imperious influence in the Court of George I. How 
 much did she weigh ? posterity asks with languid inter- 
 est, and learns with the completest indifference that tlie 
 amount is unknown. 
 
 The other favourite, a woman of various German and 
 English titles, still vaguely hangs on to memory as 
 Duchess of Kendal. Physically, she was a great contrast 
 to tlie Countess of Darlington. Not at all beautiful ; 
 ' a very tall, lean, ill-favoured old lady,' was Horace 
 Walpole's boyish reminiscence of iier. She was so tall, 

 
 SECBETABY OF STATE 91 
 
 cyaunt, and scraggy that she was famiharly known as 
 the ' Maypole.' Except for her insatiable appetite for 
 money, in which the Darlington fully equalled her, 
 there was no particular harm in this simple old crea- 
 ture. Her abihties were too trifling to require any 
 mention. Chesterfield plainly says that she was very 
 little above an idiot. She was so complacently foohsh 
 that her society was very attractive and sootliing to 
 George I. ; and, in spite of her deficiency in fat, her 
 influence with him was considerably greater than her 
 rival's. She was a Lutheran, with a reputation for piety 
 of a sort ; painfully going seven times every Sunday to 
 Lutheran chapels in London. More curious was the 
 tinge of superstition in the Countess, who piously cher- 
 ished a black raven which had flown hi at her window 
 soon after the King's death, and firmly believed that here 
 was the soul of his departed majesty whom she was 
 never more to see. ' Quoth the raven. Never more.' 
 
 So exceedingly influential with the King were these 
 ludicrously unprofitable German women, that states- 
 men had to take the chances of their support or ill- 
 will into their best and most serious consideration. 
 In addition, therefore, to the politicians who were 
 inclined to follow Carteret's lead, when the deaths of 
 Sunderland and Stanhope left him as the chief repre- 
 sentative of that section of the Whigs, it became 
 necessary for Carteret to secure, if possible, the good- 
 will of one of the two feminine favourites who swayed 
 the King very much as they pleased. Carteret so far 
 succeeded that he might reckon on the support of the 
 Countess of Darlington, so long as it should not be her 
 interest to favour any one else. But, on the other liand, 
 the Duchess of Kendal was in a thorough understanding 
 with Walpole and Townshend ; and the Duchess was
 
 92 LORD CABTERET 
 
 more influential with the King than tlie Countess. 
 Townshend, in view of the coming contest with Carteret, 
 was particularly well satisfied with the state of tliis 
 feminine question. In his letters to Walpole, the 
 Duchess of Kendal was the ' Good Duchess,' their fast 
 friend ; and he exultantly wrote from Hanover in Octo- 
 ber 1723 : 'I beheve I may venture to say she reposes 
 a more entire confidence in me at present than in any 
 other person about tlie King.' So far, the brother- 
 ministers might fairly congratulate themselves on their 
 probabilities of success, with all the more malicious 
 certainty when they remembered that the Duchess of 
 Kendal, quite apart from her Court rivalry, had a priv- 
 ate jealousy against the family to which the Countess of 
 Darlington belonged. 
 
 It was over a rather contemptible affair, more or less 
 connected with these uninteresting denizens of a Court 
 where there was no Queen, that the quarrel in tlie 
 English ministry came to its crisis. 
 
 A Swiss, Sir Luke Schaub, who had been the Earl of 
 Stanhope's private secretary, and was Carteret's intimate 
 friend, was at this period English ambassador at Paris. 
 He had been appointed by Carteret, and was, therefore, 
 suspiciously regarded by Walpole and Townshend. The 
 want of liarmony among the Enghsh ministers was, of 
 course, known to Schaub ; and Dubois, who had become 
 Prime Minister of France through English influence, 
 was also perfectly aware of it. The three ministers — 
 Walpole, Townshend, and Carteret — had. indeed, united- 
 ly signed a letter to Dubois, after the death of Sunder- 
 land, and liad formally announced their union and their 
 desire to continue towards France the policy of Sun- 
 derland and Stanhope ; but Carteret, writing to Schaub 
 at the same time, had spoken plainly of the probability
 
 SECRET ABY OF STATE 93 
 
 of disagreements. He told Schaiib that he felt his 
 position strong ; but he also declared himself resolved 
 not to remain long united with his colleagues, if he were 
 not fully persuaded of their good intentions. ^ He 
 refused, however, to believe that Walpole and Towns- 
 hend meant to deal dishonestly with him.^ Schaub, 
 on his side, naturally upheld at Paris the interest and 
 influence of Carteret ; and Schaub's own weight with 
 Dubois, which was a considerable guarantee for the con- 
 tinuance of good relations between England and France, 
 no doubt seemed to Carteret a guarantee also for his 
 own safe position in the ministry. If, then, Walpole 
 could weaken Carteret's influence here — could give a 
 blow to Carteret's reputation at Paris, that would be to 
 damage Carteret where he seemed to be most strong, 
 and to injure him in the place where he Avould feel it 
 the most. Walpole resolved to try. 
 
 One of the schemes which Schaub at Paris was anx- 
 ious to carry out was a marriage between a niece of the 
 Countess of Darlington and a young French nobleman, 
 son of the Marquis de la Vrilliere. The King of England 
 was eager for this match; but one condition the 
 Darhngton family imperatively desired. They insisted 
 that the Marquis de la Vrilhere must be made a Duke. 
 There was likely to be some difficulty in gaining the 
 assent of the French Court. George, who could not 
 with dignity make such an application to Louis XV. 
 unless he knew that it would be at once granted, did 
 actually himself write a letter requesting the promotion ; 
 the letter only to be presented if success was certain. 
 The negotiation was thrown into the hands of Schaub, 
 
 1 Carteret to Schaub; May 4, 1722. Brit. Mus. Sloane MSS. 4,204; 
 fol. 66, v°. 
 
 ■' Id. to id. Sloane MSS. 4,204; Ibl. Q7, v".
 
 94 LORD CABTEEET 
 
 and, necessarily, of Carteret, to whom, deep in tlie 
 affairs of the Congress of Cambrai, the thing was 
 doubtless as insignificant as it deserved to be. Yet 
 this merely vulgar affair, a question concerning nothing 
 more important than the lumbering etiquette of a hand- 
 ful of objectionable Teutonic people, served as well as 
 anything else to overthrow an Enghsli statesman of 
 genius, and firmly to secure Walpole in a position which 
 he was to hold for nearly twenty years to come. 
 
 The first check which Carteret received was the 
 death of Cardinal Dubois in August 1723. Eumours of 
 the disagreements between Carteret and Townshend at 
 Hanover had already been floating in London and 
 giving rise to various inconsistent conjectures. Some 
 said that Carteret would soon be back in England to 
 form, along with Walpole, a reorganised ministry ; 
 others, that he was returning in disgrace. The death of 
 Dubois, opening to the brother-ministers the possibility 
 of procuring the recall of Scliaub from Paris, gave them 
 also a chance to make it clear to every one that it was 
 Carteret who was in the weak position and whose poli- 
 tical power was declining. If the ambassador who 
 practically was Carteret's nominee, who was devoted to 
 Carteret's interests, could be removed, a blow would 
 be struck which every one wovdd be able to appreciate, 
 and all rumours of Carteret's suj)erior influence with the 
 King would be effectually contradicted. Walpole and 
 Townshend accordingly began to make disparaging re- 
 presentations of Schaub ; to assert that any influence 
 which he might have had at Paris had been destroyed by 
 the death of Dubois, and that to retain him in his embassy 
 there would be damaging to the King's affairs. They did 
 not dare flatly to ask Schaub's recall, but went about 
 the thing in an intriguing way, which they thought was
 
 SECRETARY OF STATE 95 
 
 certain, sooner or later, to produce the desired result. 
 A special incident helped them. On the death of 
 Dubois, the Eegent Orleans recalled to Paris one Count 
 Noce who had been banished by the influence of the 
 Cardinal, but now returned to renewed perfect intimacy 
 with the Eegent. Carteret himself was rather anxious 
 when he heard of this ; for Noce was on bad terms 
 with Schaub, whose influence with Dubois he considered 
 to have been the real cause of his disgrace. Walpole 
 and Townshend gladly took advantage of this convenient 
 occurrence. Townshend, at Hanover, suggested to the 
 King that it would be well to send ' to Paris an envoy 
 who with all discreetness, and concealing as far as he 
 possibly could the real intention of his journey, should 
 ascertain what Schaub's influence with the French Gov- 
 ernment really was. But how could this be done with- 
 out disgusting Carteret ? France was in his department ; 
 any appointment to Paris was Carteret's affair. To avoid 
 the chance of an open and premature quarrel, Towns- 
 hend suggested that the thing should be managed as 
 informally as possible. The envoy should not adopt a 
 diplomatic character ; should not even go direct from 
 Hanover to Paris, but should start from London A\dth a 
 supposed intention to make liis way to Hanover, taking 
 Paris only on his road, as if with merely private curiosity 
 to see it. To explain a somewliat prolonged stay there, 
 he should make pretence of visiting the neighbouring 
 palaces and other objects of reasonable interest, in which 
 an intelligent foreigner might naturally profess to find 
 excusable attraction. And for this slightly ambiguous 
 enterprise, Townshend very quietly proposed Horatio 
 Walpole, Eobert Walpole's younger brother. 
 
 This appointment, brought about without any pre- 
 vious information to Carteret, was tlie second check
 
 96 LOBD CABTERET 
 
 which he received, and Townshend was very triumphant. 
 A spy was about to be sent into Carteret's own depart- 
 ment, and Carteret had not even been consulted in the mat- 
 ter. Other httle incidents, trifling in themselves, pointed 
 towards the same zealous undermining of Carteret's 
 position. On various small occasions Townshend did 
 all he could to thwart Carteret at Hanover, opposing 
 his recommendations, and endeavouring to weaken his 
 influence. Yet Carteret seems to have taken it all good- 
 humouredly enough, and probably did not think the 
 state of affairs too serious. Townshend, after one of 
 his little successes over his colleague, wrote home to 
 Walpole — ' Perhaps you may have some curiosity to 
 know wliat my good colleague's behaviour was upon 
 this victory. We came home very lovingly together, 
 and he was lavish on his old topic, how well he intended 
 to live with you and me.' At the same time, Townshend 
 evidently did not care to appear too confident; for he 
 begged Walpole to mention these particulars to New- 
 castle alone. ' Nothing would give his majesty greater 
 offence than our making any such affair a matter of 
 triumph, and the less we boast, the more we shall cer- 
 tainly have to boast of.' Townshend was determined 
 to have a great deal more to boast of. Hardly had 
 Horatio Walpole started on his ambiguous mission when 
 Townshend, having succeeded so far, thought he might 
 with cheerful confidence go further. He suggested that 
 Walpole's position at Paris would be much improved if 
 he had some credentials from the King. There was an 
 easy excuse to make for this. Tlie King of Portugal 
 was about to join the Quadruple Alliance; let Horatio 
 Walpole, then, have full powers to manage from Paris 
 the various formalities which such an occasion required. 
 The King agreed ; spoke of it to Carteret as if it had been
 
 SECRET ABY OF STATE 97 
 
 a thouuhl of his own, and Carteret could not venture to 
 oppose. But Townshend says that Carteret was ex- 
 tremely mortified, and a duller man than he could 
 easily have foreseen the end of all these little slights and 
 irritations. Yet Townshend seems, with wishful eager- 
 ness, to have exaggerated the effect which the appoint- 
 ment of Horatio Walpole had on Carteret. He declared 
 to the minister in London that Carteret had been 
 perfectly astonished by the stroke. ' I never observed 
 in him on any occasion such visible marks of despmr.' 
 In ascribing despair to Carteret, Townshend was doubt- 
 less wrong. Carteret might easily enough have been 
 disgusted, and may very probably not have cared to 
 conceal it — suspicious of his colleagues he had only too 
 good reason to be ; but despair, even in far more serious 
 circumstances than tliese, was altogether out of Carter- 
 et's way. His own language shows that he knew well 
 enough the plots which were being laid against him, 
 but that he did not take them at all in the tragic 
 manner w]iich Townshend fancied he had perceived. 
 Writing of Horatio Wa] pole's appointment, Carteret 
 said : ' Cette affaire ne me cause point de peine ^ quoique 
 ines collegues aient certainement quelque chose en tete en 
 cet egard quils ne niont point explique, et peut-etre p)as 
 menie au roi. Voiis serez fort attentif a voir si Horatio 
 Walpole tache me mettre mal dans I'espirit du Due cV Orleans 
 et du Comte du Morville. Mais vous vous garderez bien 
 de lui laisser entrevoir mes soupcons ou les votres, si votres.'^ 
 Carteret was suspicious, but practically not much dis- 
 turbed. It is almost amusing to see the precisely opposite 
 views which he and Townshend took of their political 
 circumstances. The very day after Carteret had written 
 
 ' Carteret to Schaub; Oct. 24, 1723. lirit. Mus. Sloane MSS. 4,204 ; 
 ful. 93-94. 
 
 H
 
 98 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 as above to Scliaiib, Towiisliend cheerfully told Walpole 
 that his own interest with the King was daily rising, 
 while that of Carteret was daily sinking. '^ Before the 
 year 1723 was ended Townshend wrote to his brother-in- 
 law: ' I will venture to assure tlie Duke of Newcastle 
 and you, that we have all reason to be satisfied willi 
 our Hanover expedition.' - A month later, Carteret, 
 referring to rumours wliicli represented his decline in 
 influence, says to Schaub: 'All the reports to which 
 you allude are false. I have mentioned them to the 
 King, who expressed as much kindness as ever, and the 
 same approbation of my conduct, and of my zealous 
 though feeble services. . . . My colleagues instead of 
 attacking have courted me for some time past.'^ 
 
 Quite apart from the personal relations of Carteret 
 raid Townshend at Hanover, the position of Schaub and 
 Horatio Walpole at Paris soon became embarrassing 
 and ridiculous. It was impossible to keep up the pre- 
 tence that Walpole was there out of mere private 
 curiosity. A diplomatic person sniffing about the 
 sights of Paris, and doing mere innocent dilettantism, 
 was something more than absurd, and could impose on 
 no one. Every one understood that it was a trial of 
 strength between the two men. Schaub, on his side, 
 was naturally mortified that any one should have been 
 sent at all, especially one of Walpole's social position 
 and ministerial connections. His letters to Carteret are 
 full (if [lie disgust he not unnaturally felt. On tlie 
 other hand, Walpole Avrote that Schaub had lost all 
 influence with the Duke of Orleans : tliat to o-et the 
 
 ' MS.S. of Karl of Asliljurnham; Ili.sl. MSS. Commission. Rep, Yill. 
 pai'l III., p. 4. 
 
 " CV)xe, Walpole, II. 205. Doc. 5, 17i'3. 
 
 =* Carteret to Sdiaub ; Jan. 8, 17-'4. Brit. Mas. Add. MSS. 9,151;
 
 SECRETARY OF STATE 00 
 
 desired dukedom was impossible ; that the ambassador 
 was in no way fitted for his post. Yet the brother- 
 ministers could not get Schaub recalled. Horatio 
 Walpole soon began to feel his position intolerable. 
 Whenever lie and Schaub appeared in public together 
 people laughed in an amused, half-puzzled fashion, 
 hardly knowing which was ambassador and Avhich was 
 not. That Walpole had actually come was presump- 
 tive evidence in his favoui", but that Schaub did not go 
 w^as actual evidence in his. People were perplexed ; 
 Walpole was annoyed, and even beginning to feel 
 angiy. Carteret, according to the King's commands, 
 had sent him credentials, but Walpole declared that 
 he would not use them. He even took offence at the 
 harmless letter with which Carteret accompanied the 
 documents. ' His letter, by-the-bye, was the most dry, 
 not to say the most impertinent, I ever received from 
 a Secretary of State to a minister,' wrote Walpole to 
 his brother in a slightly ungramraatical manner ; ' but 
 that don't trouble me at all.' Surely official Horatio 
 could hardly have expected lyrical congratulations from 
 Carteret, and as a matter of fact tlie letter, which was 
 a formal one only, had nothing in it with which 
 Walpole, if he liad not been in a state of querulous 
 irritation, could have found any fault. But Walpole, 
 who had a very considerable estimation of his own 
 diplomatic abilities and self-importance, was annoyed 
 to find that the simple fact of his appearance on the 
 scene did not at once brini^' about the result wliich he 
 desired. 
 
 Yet even second-rate diplomatists of an irritable 
 turn of mind get what they want if they will only wait 
 long enough for it. To Walpole, waiting to drop easily 
 into a desirable appointment, the delay was undoubtedly 
 
 H 2
 
 100 LORD CARTERET 
 
 provokingly long. Carteret's influence was so great 
 that impetuous action was out of the question. There 
 was even a rumour that Carteret himself would take 
 the post of ambassador at Paris — a possible removal of 
 ISchaub which to Walpole must have seemed nothing 
 short of tragic. But tlie end of Walpole's anxieties 
 came at last. The Regent Orleans had died in Decem- 
 ber, and had been succeeded by the Duke of Bourbon. 
 The new Eegent, who at first spoke vaguely, at length 
 definitely declared that to grant the dukedom to the 
 Marquis de la Vrilliere was absolutely impossible. Yet 
 so powerful was Carteret's influence that even this was 
 not enough to procure the recall of Schaub. Towns- 
 hend therefore resolved on a decisive step. He in- 
 structed Horatio Walpole to write home a despatch 
 asserting that Schaub was an obstacle to the efiicient 
 performance of the King's business, and urging his im- 
 mediate recall: This letter was written by Walpole in 
 March 1724, and brought the long contest to an end. 
 Schaub was recalled in April, and the fall of Carteret 
 was the necessary consequence. 
 
 The brother-ministers had carried their point, but 
 their success, though very considerable, was far from 
 complete. They were not able to remove Carteret's 
 political adherents from their oflicial posts, and they 
 were not able to get rid of Carteret himself altogether. 
 He ceased to be Secretary of State, and, as if it were 
 desired to emphasise the fact that it was a man of 
 genius wlio had been removed, the Duke_of_Newcastle 
 was appointed to succeed him. But to dismiss Carteret 
 altogether was what his rivals could not venture to do. 
 Townshend wrote to the Duke of Grafton, at that time 
 Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, that to remove Carteret 
 without giving liim a considerable equivalent was
 
 SECRETARY OF STATE 101 
 
 simply impossible, and he politely informed Grafton 
 that he must make way for the fallen Secretary. In 
 Dublin, Carteret would give Walpole less cause for 
 alarm than anywhere else. He would be, for half the 
 5'ear at least, removed from the Court and from London 
 political life ; and tliis was a great consideration to 
 ministers who dreaded Carteret's remarkable personal 
 influence, and the special friendship and approbation 
 with which the King treated him. Carteret's forced 
 resignation was by no means to the satisfaction of the 
 King, and when, a few days afterwards, he was ap- 
 pointed Lord-Lieutenant of L^eland, George told him that 
 if he had had anything better to offer him he should have 
 had it.^ The ni£fht after the ministerial chauQ-es were 
 announced, the King spoke for half an hour to Carteret 
 in the drawing-room, and had hardly a word for any 
 other person.'^ Considerable doubt was soon current 
 whether Carteret, though named Lord-Lieutenant, would 
 ever go to Ireland at all. It did not seem at all un- 
 likely that he might soon be restored to office with 
 even more power than he had had before. Even the 
 limited amount of self-congratulation with which Wal- 
 pole and Townshend might perhaps cheer themselves 
 was reckoned by many political onlookers as decidedly 
 premature. Carteret's friends were sanguine. ' His 
 enemies would be very glad to see his back turned, and 
 they begin to find they have gained no strength by the 
 late change. He is certainly as Avell if not better than ever 
 with the King ; constant in his attendance at Court, and 
 supported by almost all the foreign powers.' ^ Carteret's 
 
 ' Papers of W. King, Archbishop of Dublin. Ili.vt. ^iSS. Conimisj;ion ; 
 Report II. 2:i5. 
 
 2 St. John Brodrick to Lord Chancellor Midletou ; April 14, 1724 
 Coxe, Walpole, IT. .'JS9. 
 
 =» Brodrick to Midletou; April 29, 1724. Add. MSS. 9,245; fol. 13-14.
 
 102 J.miD CABTEBET 
 
 own disposition was al\va3's hopefully sanguine, but it 
 does not seem that on this occasion he shared the too 
 confident expectations of some of his political adherents. 
 The only remaining fragment of personal evidence 
 rather shows that he judged the situation quite im- 
 partially, and recognised the facts as they were. lie 
 did not pretend to deny that Walpole and Townshend 
 had played the political game ungenerously and un- 
 fairly ; he complained much of the way in which 
 Townshend had treated him at Hanover, and especially 
 of the unjust and intriguing interposition of Horatio 
 Walpole at Paris ; but he recognised that though the 
 fair rules of the game had been broken the ])lay was 
 over, and he had lost. He took his defeat with his 
 usual good-humour, simply saying that as he liad no 
 political obligations to Townshend he would never, as 
 Secretary of State, have consented to be Townshend's 
 mere subordinate, and, for the rest, that he had no 
 quarrel with the ministers who had beaten him, and 
 would do nothing to oppose their measures.^ In this 
 good-natured frame of mind, relieved from the annoy- 
 ances as well as from the responsibilities of an office in 
 wliicli he had been very badly lix'ated, he remained 
 in England foi- six nu)nths more, till the seriously 
 threatening condition of Irisli public afl'airs called him 
 to new duties and difliculties in Dublin. 
 
 * Stephpn Poynlz to IToratii) Walpole, April .'"», \7-2\. Add. MSS. 
 9,151 ; io!. 15G.
 
 103 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 LORD-LIEUTENAKT OF IRELAND. 
 1724-17.30. 
 
 While Walpole and Townshend had thus in 1723 and 
 1724 devoted themselves to intrio-ue ag-ainst Carteret in 
 London and at Hanover, Walpole's own Government 
 in Ireland had involved itself in serious difficulties. True 
 to his constant practice of sacrificing men, policy, and 
 principles to his own personal hold on power, Wal- 
 pole, fearful of offending the Duchess of Kendal, was 
 now pushing forward an Irish scheme in which he him- 
 self had no particular interest. He, probably, even 
 disapproved it ; but the favourite Duchess was espe- 
 cially solicitous, and Walpole was not inclined to irritate 
 or alienate her. For two years the relations between 
 England and Ireland were strained almost to the break- 
 ing point, because the Duchess of Kendal was ravenously 
 fond of money, and Walpole could not personally afford 
 to annoy her. 
 
 For some time there had been a great want of cop- 
 ])er coin in Ireland. There was no doubt about this ; 
 Swift in his Drapiers Letters admits it. While Lord 
 Sunderland was still minister, the coinage question was 
 under consideration ; and as Ireland had no mint of its 
 own, various proposals were made in England for 
 remedying the Irish want. Nothing was agreed upon
 
 104 LORD CARTERET 
 
 durin<T Sunderland's life-tiine ; l)ut in 1723, wlicn 
 Walpole was at tlic head of affairs, a Wolverhampton 
 iron-founder, named Wood, obtained a patent to coin 
 copper money for Ireland to the vaUie of 108,000/. 
 Perliaps tliere was nothing unusual about sucli a pro- 
 ceeding, but on this particular occasion everything was 
 mismanacfed, and went wrons^ from tlie first. The 
 scheme was not cleaidy explained to tlie Irish people ; 
 the leadino; men in Ireland were not even consulted 
 about it. Before tlie coin could be got into circulation, 
 murmurs of discontent came from Ireland. Wood was 
 disliked as a foreigner ; lie Avas vain, impudent, brag- 
 ofincf. He was a ricli man of business ; but Swift never 
 wearied in contemptuously insulting him. In the profuse 
 vocal3ulary of Swift's Drapiers Li'Mers Wood was a 
 vile fellow, a mean ordinary man, a hardware dealer, a 
 sorry fellow, a little impudent hardwareman, a diminu- 
 tive insignificant mechanic. In tlie title of one of his 
 broadside poems, Swift called him ' brazier, tinker, 
 hardwareman, coiner, founder, and esquire.' The angry 
 feelings roused by this unlucky scheme were further 
 excited by tlie rumour that this unknown Englishman 
 owed his patent to mere corruption, and that the 
 condition of his contract implied a substantial bribe 
 to one of the Hanoverians, the insatiable Duchess of 
 Kendal. Soon the general cry insisted that the coin 
 was l)ad, -and would ruin the sho]) keepers and ])oor 
 people who would be forced to accept it ; while from 
 better-instructed persons came the more weighty 
 objection that the amount of the proposed coinage was 
 absurdly large, and out of all proportion to the currency 
 of gold and silver in Ireland. Passion and argument 
 were very strangely mixed throughout the course of the 
 whole affiiir.
 
 LORD-LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND 105 
 
 The agitation in Ireland had become very general 
 and embittered, when the Lord-Lieutenant, the Duke of 
 Grafton, landed at Dublin in August 1723, after his 
 usual yearly visit to England. He found that the ques- 
 tion of tlie coinage was the universal subject of conver- 
 sation and complaint. Irishmen who in all other 
 matters were very well afi'ected to the English Govern- 
 ment had not a word to say in defence of tlie patent, 
 or if they had, they dared not open their lips to hint 
 approval. Grafton instantly took alarm, and foresaw 
 an inevitably troubled parliamentary session. From the 
 very first he predicted to Walpole that the affair would 
 end in a manner disafjreeable to both of them.^ When 
 the Irish Houses met in September, the temper of the 
 members was so evident that Grafton, fearing bad re- 
 sults if he shoidd refer to the matter in the terms of his 
 instructions from England, made no mention of it at all 
 in his opening speech to parliament. But wlien he 
 attempted to hinder parliament itself from inquiring 
 into the patent which tiie English Government had 
 granted, he found his task hopeless. He could not 
 prevail upon a single member to support the Govern- 
 ment view of the question, or to oppose parliamentary 
 examination of it. He could get no better promise from 
 any one tlian that members would discuss the matter in 
 a decent and respectful way. From some he could not 
 get even so little satisfaction as this. He told Walpole 
 that while tlie Irish Lord Chancellor, Midleton, Avas 
 giving daily assurances of mildness and moderation, his 
 son, Mr. Brodrick, was moving or supporting the most 
 peevisli resolutions, and making the most inflaming 
 speeches : — 
 
 ' The son was yesterday overheard to say (after 
 
 1 Graftou to Walpole : Aug. 22, 1723. MSS. Record Office.
 
 lOU LOUD CAltTEBET 
 
 he liad ii^ed some very odd expressions in u debate 
 abont addressing for some papers) that nobody was too 
 great in another kingdom to be reached for what he 
 liad done in ])reJLidice to this; for that a first minister 
 in Enghind had been impeaclied npon grievances com- 
 phaincd of by tliis nation. Yon see what an nnliappy 
 situation I am in here. I am hiboiiring from morning 
 to nio'lit under the ""reatest difficulties and uneasiness, 
 and fear at hist that tlie event will be very far from 
 being agreeable either to you or myself.'^ 
 
 Far from leaving tlie matter witliout parliamentary 
 notice, the Irish Houses took it up with clieerful anger. 
 A call of the House of Commons was ordered, and in 
 Committee resolutions were adopted which declared 
 that the patent was unjust and ruinous, and had been 
 obtained by misrepresentation and fraud. Grafton 
 announced this unpleasant proceeding in a letter which 
 w^as too much for Walpole's usually unruffled good- 
 humour. It was well that things were no worse, Graf- 
 ton rather meekly said. What might not have happened 
 if Brodrick and the more violent spirits had had tlieir 
 way ! They would have insisted upon resolutions full 
 of bitterness ; perhaps, even, liave demanded a vote 
 of censure on those ministers who had advised the 
 King to grant tliis patent. But all that liad been over- 
 ruled. Walj)ole was exceedingly annoyed by wliat lie 
 reckoned Grafton's indifferent and cowardly excuse for 
 so serious an attack upon the Government. As Sec- 
 retary of State, Walpole refused to write a word to tiie 
 Lord-Lieutenant on liis conduct and management ; but 
 in a private letter he told him that tlie difference of 
 their views on this matter could not possibly be greater. 
 A vote of censure, muimured Grafton, had been avoided : 
 
 ' Grafton to Walpole; Sept. 14, l7■2\^. MSS. liecord Office.
 
 LORD-LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND 107 
 
 ' A notable porforinance ! . . . I know very well 
 what these things mean in an Enghsh parhanient, ])nt 
 I suppose you talk another language in Ireland. But 
 let that pass. I have weathered great storms before 
 now, and sliall not be lost hi an Irish liiiiricane. And 
 when I am lost [I hope] that those who are insensil)lG 
 of such unjust scandal heaped upon me will not know 
 the want of me. And I give your Grace my word, 
 when this comes to be retorted upon j'ou, as mucli 
 as I am hurt, I Avill not be indifferent. ... If Brod- 
 rick attacked, nobody defended. . . . And what is still 
 more, you seem to think that we must here give in to it 
 too. Where is then the great crime to start a question 
 in parliament, so ver}^ popular that nobody there dared 
 to oppose, and when it comes to be considered here again, 
 the ministry who passed the grant must confess that 
 there was just cause of complaint! . . . Pray don't do 
 in this, as you have in every other step, stay till all is 
 over and then speak. '^ 
 
 Walpole was thoroughly angry ; and many other 
 letters, reproachfully complaining on Walpole's side, 
 apologising and explanatory on Grafton's, passed between 
 the two. Grafton defended himself aiiainst the change 
 of indiflerence toWalpole's friendshij), and lukewarmness 
 in support of the administration. At great length he 
 justified all he had done at every stage of the coinage 
 question, but ended by declaring that he did not know 
 what to advise. ' I wish to God I Avas able to advise 
 . . . what is proper to be done in the present situation 
 of affairs. It is above my reach. ... In the English 
 storms yon have weathered, I never endeavoured or 
 desired to get first to shore, nor could I imagine that 
 in u]i Iiish hunicane I could have any view of safety 
 ' Walpole U Grafton ; Oct. 3, 171^3. MSS. Recoid Ortice.
 
 108 LORD CABTERET 
 
 where you are in danger.' ^ But Walpole was not much 
 molhfied b}^ Grafton's elaborate defence ; and in an 
 earher private letter, he had been exceedingly severe : — 
 ' Forgive me . . . if I tell you I do not wonder at all 
 that nobody appears in defence of the King's patent 
 when you think it advisable to write and express your- 
 self in the manner you do. ... I shall wonder at nothing 
 tliat shall happen upon this occasion. . . . The parlia- 
 ment under your administration is attacking a patent al- 
 ready passed in favour of whom and for whose sake alone 
 you know very well. Will it be for the service to suffer 
 an indignity in that vein ? The patent was passed by 
 those that you have been hitherto looked upon as pretty 
 nearly engaged with in that public capacity ; are they 
 no longer worth jowy care or trouble ? It was passed 
 under the particular care and direction of one upon 
 whom the first reflection must fall, that never yet was 
 indifferent where you was concerned. . . . Does your 
 Grace think you will be thought to make a glorious 
 campaign, if by compounding for this you should be 
 able to carry all the other business through without 
 much difficulty ? . . . I never knew more care taken 
 upon any occasion than in passing this patent. I am 
 still satisfied it is very well to be supported. What 
 remedy the wisdom of Ireland will find out for this sup- 
 posed grievance I am at a loss to guess, and upon whom 
 the consequence of this Irish storm will fall most heavily 
 I will not say. I shall have my share, but if I am not 
 mistaken there are others that will not escape. I hope 
 3'our Grace is not mi.staken when you are persuaded to 
 be thus indifferent. There are some people that think 
 they are ever to fatten at the expense of other men's 
 labours and characters, and be themselves the most 
 
 1 Grafton to Walpole ; Oct. 19, 1723. MSS. Record Office.
 
 LOBD-LIEUTENANT OF IBELAND 109 
 
 righteous fine gentlemen. It is a species of mankind 
 that I own I detest. But I'll say no more ; and if your 
 Grace thinks I have said too much I am sorry for it ; 
 but mark the end.' ^ 
 
 Grafton no doubt tliought that Walpole had said too 
 much hy far ; and further letters, following tliis suf- 
 ficiently emphatic one, thoroughly annoyed the Duke. 
 Townshend wrote to Grafton a letter of remonstrance 
 so passionately expressed that Walpole judged it impru- 
 dent to send it, but he hardly took the sting out of 
 Tow^nshend's angry rebuke when he told Grafton that 
 though he had burnt the letter he perfectly agreed wnth 
 it. Walpole was alw^ays merciless in crushing anything 
 like insubordination in members of his Government, and 
 on this particular occasion his business instinct was 
 offended by the rather limp procedure of one whom lie 
 plainly called a mere fair-weather pilot. He was further 
 embittered by the belief that the Irish opposition to tlie 
 patent rested very considerably on the knowledge that 
 there were divisions in the Government in England, and 
 on the belief that Carteret must prevail over the ministers 
 who were plotting against him. Walpole was not at all 
 disposed to yield, but felt himself in embarrassing difl^i- 
 culties. For while he was scolding ihe Lord-Lieutenant 
 and fretting against the Secretary of State, the resolu- 
 tions and addresses of the Irish parliament w^ere on their 
 way to Carteret at Hanover, to be presented to the King. 
 Grafton liad implored that the answers miglit not be of 
 a kind to further irritate the nation. It w^as indispensable 
 for Walpole to get the Irish Money Bill through the 
 Irish parliament, yet that parliament had declared tliat 
 till the patent was disposed of it would touch no other 
 business whatever. Walpole was determined not to 
 
 ' Walpole to Grafton ; Sept. 24, 1723. MSS. Record Office.
 
 no LORD CARTERET 
 
 admit either that the patent in itself was what the Irish 
 represented it to be, or that the King in granting it had 
 in any way overstepped his authority and prerogative. 
 Yet if tlie King's reply should fail to satisfy the Irish 
 nation, the whole Irish Government would probably be 
 thrown into confusion. Walpole was doubtless much 
 disgusted, but in the circumstances he could do nothing 
 but recommend a conciliator}^ answer. By his advice 
 tlie King's reply expressed regret for the uneasiness 
 Avhich had been caused in Ireland, and promised that if 
 any abuses had been committed by the patentee Wood 
 they should be inquired into and punished. From 
 Hanover, in November 1723, Carteret sent royal answers 
 in this sense to Grafton ; and the Irisli parliament, 
 thanking the King, and assuming that the whole thing 
 was practically at an end, voted the su})plies for the 
 customary two years, and broke up, not to meet again 
 till tlie autumn of 1725. 
 
 The royal promise was kept, with a result very 
 different from the expectations of the Irish parliament. 
 A committee of the Privy Council investigated the Irish 
 complaints. Sir Isaac Newton, Master of tlie Mint, ex- 
 amined specimens of Wood's coinage ; and in July 1724 
 the committee produced its rejiort, drawn up by Walpole 
 himself. The committee found that the conditions of 
 the patent had been observed, that the coin was good, 
 and was needed in Ireland ; ])ut recommended tliat the 
 proposed amount sliould be mucli reduced, and that 
 40,000/. should be the utmost value whicli tlie patentee 
 should ])e allowed to coin. 
 
 This report was sent to Dublin, l)ut it only exasperated 
 a strife which liad seemed about to die away. The 
 unwise patentee boasted over his seeming success. He 
 declared, or it suited Swift to assert that he declared,
 
 LOBD-LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND 111 
 
 that his coin slioiilcl be swallowed in fire-balls, and that 
 Walpole wonld cram his money-bags down tlie throats 
 of the people. But far more fatal for Walpole and tlie 
 Duchess of Kendal than Wood's noisy bragging was the 
 terrible appearance of Swift. With a personal grudge 
 against Walpole, and a detestation of everything Whig- 
 gish, Swift seized an opportunity ready-made to his 
 hand. As a Dublin tradesman quietly writing his sim- 
 ple Drapiers Letters to his fellow-shopkeepers of Ireland, 
 he produced a storm before which England was forced 
 unwillingly to yield.. And it was when this storm was 
 at its very highest and angriest that Carteret landed in 
 Ireland as Lord-Lieutenant. 
 
 Tlie position which Carteret now held was not in 
 any case a very attractive one, and the special circum 
 stances in wliich he accepted it did not gift it with any 
 unusual charm, Carteret was about to undertake a 
 difficult and rather thankless piece of work, and some 
 at least of his colleagues positively hoped that his work 
 might fail. When Walpole and Townshend began to 
 understand that the Irish opposition to tlie Englisli 
 patent was really serious, their jealous suspicion readily 
 convinced itself that Carteret in some way or other must 
 be connected with this. Carteret was on terms of pri- 
 vate friendship with the Brodricks, a leadin^r Whio- 
 family in Ireland, but firmly opposed to the Whig Wal- 
 pole on the coinage question. While Townshend and 
 Carteret were with the King on the continent, one of tlie 
 Brodrick family arrived at Hanover in tlie autuuiu of 
 1723. Walpole and Townsliend both assumed that his 
 object was to intrig-ue with Carteret ac^ainst them. ' Lord 
 Carteret, in this attack, has different views,' Wali)()le 
 Avrote to Townshend ; ' he slurs the Duke of Grafton, he 
 flings dirt upon me, who passed the patent, and makes
 
 112 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 somebody [the Duchess of Kendal] uneasy, for whose 
 sake it was done ; and this is one of the instances wlierein 
 those that think themselves in danger begin to be upon 
 the offensive.'^ Yet beyond the fact that Carteret knew 
 the Brodricks and that tlie Brodricks were asrainst the 
 patent, there is positively no evidence to justify Walpole's 
 suspicion. Such evidence as there is points rather the 
 other way, and goes to prove that Carteret held himself 
 quite apart from a thing which as yet did not especially 
 concern him. When the addresses of the Irish parlia- 
 ment were forwarded to him at Hanover, he wrote in 
 reply to Grafton that he had ])]aced them before the 
 King ' in the most effectual manner that I was able, con- 
 siderimi that I had no knowledo-e of this affair, until it 
 was taken up by each House of Parliament.'''^ When 
 Carteret and Townshend spoke on the question together, 
 Carteret said that as the coinage was an inherent prero- 
 gative of the Crown, he did not see what either House 
 could have to object to it. Six months later than this, 
 when Carteret, already officially Lord-Lieutenant of 
 Ireland, was still in London, the very Brodrick family 
 with whom he was supposed to be intriguing are wit- 
 nesses that he was holding himself quite apart from 
 interference on either side. St. John Brodrick, writing 
 to Lord Chancellor Midleton in April 1724, and acknow- 
 ledging Carteret's very great personal kindness, says of 
 the coinage dispute : ' Our friend seems resolved to be 
 perfectly passive in this affair.' ^ Carteret, indeed, far 
 from caballing with Midleton and liis relations, had four 
 months before the date of this letter privately informed 
 Grafton that the King was so displeased with the Lord 
 
 ' Coxe, Walpole, II. 276,277. Oct. 12, 172.'5. 
 
 » Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 22,524; fol. .'lO. 
 
 3 Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 0,245; fol. 13, 14. April 20, 1724.
 
 LOBD-LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND 113 
 
 Cliancellor's conduct that he intended to deprive him 
 of the seals. 
 
 Carteret became Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in 
 April 1724 ; and though, as Brodrick wrote, he was 
 personally passive in the matter of the patent, it then 
 became his official duty to attempt a solution of this 
 much- vexed question. It is interesting to note that the 
 proposal which he made, though it was disapproved by 
 the other ministers and objected to by tlie King, was 
 precisely the one which in the end was adopted, to the 
 complete justification of Carteret's common-sense states- 
 manship. Carteret always looked upon facts as they 
 really were. So late as August 1724, after the affair 
 had been in serious agitation for more than a year, 
 Newcastle wrote that the King and his ministers were at 
 a great loss what to do. They were full of querulous 
 insistence that the patent must be maintained, wliile at 
 the same time they were distressed and irritated to see 
 that the government officials in Ireland entirely failed 
 to win the consent of the Irish people or parliament. 
 But Carteret saw clearly and proposed boldly. It was 
 already plain to him that the patent must be surrendered, 
 and he expressed his views to Townshend and Newcastle, 
 Ireland, he said in his homely idiomatic style, might 
 very well pay the fiddler, and, in return for the com- 
 plete cancelling of the formally sanctioned scheme 
 might award Wood some fair compensation for his 
 pecuniary loss. This is exactly what was afterwards 
 done ; but Newcastle and Townshend considered such a 
 proposal sheer absurdity. The ailair, tliey said, was no 
 longer a mere question of coinage and patents ; it con- 
 cerned the lionour of the King and of the nation. Tliey 
 would not listen to Carteret's proposal ; neither did the 
 King approve it. But one practical measure the King 
 
 I
 
 Ill LOUD CABTEBET 
 
 did desire. Little as it was to his taste to sacrifice Carte- 
 ret, lie now wished that Carteret should go to Ireland 
 as soon as possible. This was also Walpole's view. 
 Walpole firmly believed that the Irish officials, Lords- 
 Justices, and others, had been plotting against the 
 scheme which it was their official duty to promote, and 
 he thought it worse than hopeless to trust to their con- 
 duct any longer. He therefore wished that the new Lord- 
 Lieutenant should go over at once, since everything 
 must now depend on what Carteret might do or advise. 
 Carteret promptly agreed, and arrived in Dublin on 
 October 23, 1724. 
 
 Newcastle, of course, professed friendship, and of 
 course professed it perfidiously. On the 8th of Septem- 
 ber he wrote to Carteret, repeating his facile and frequent 
 assurances of support and assistance. Li the same 
 montli Newcastle wrote also to Horatio Walpole, 
 exulting over Carteret's departure from England, and 
 maliciously anticipating his possible failure. ' Lord 
 Carteret,' wrote Newcastle in an early specimen of the 
 duplicity w^ith which lie constantly treated Carteret, 'is 
 contrary to his wish sent to L^eland, to quell the disturb- 
 ances he has himself fomented. This you may imagine 
 
 is no easy task for him, and possibly may end in .'^ 
 
 There is nothing mysterious in the blank left in New- 
 castle's treacherous letter. Failure, disgrace, ruin ; the 
 strongest of these words would have filled \\\) the gap 
 to Newcastle's complete satisfaction. Townshend's feel- 
 ings were very much tlie same. If a letter supposed to 
 be his is really so, Townshend was capable of believing 
 that Carteret had condescended to deliberate lying about 
 his connection with Ireland." Carteret cannot have 
 
   Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 9,162 ; fol. 136. Sept. 2G, 1724. 
 2 Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 0,24:3; fol. 38. Aug. 23, 1724.
 
 LOBD-LIEUTENANT OF lEELAND 115 
 
 deceived himself; it was too clear that though he was the 
 nominal colleague of Walpole and Townshend and New- 
 castle, he must expect support only from himself. But 
 he undertook his task with his usual courage. Before 
 starting, he wrote to Newcastle with a frank openness, 
 which the most treacherous of politicians by no means 
 deserved : — 
 
 ' I give your Grace a thousand thanks for the com- 
 fort of your letter in your own hand, in which you 
 assure me of your Grace's protection and also of my 
 Lord Townshend's. I will endeavour to deserve it, and 
 I am sure your Grace is too just to measure services 
 only by the success of them. In full confidence that 
 you will set my good intentions and zeal for his ma- 
 jesty's service from time to time in a true light, I shall 
 cheerfully proceed. . . . We drank your health, as well 
 as that of all the Pelhams in the world.' ^ 
 
 On the same date Carteret wrote to a subordinate 
 official friend : — 
 
 ' Certainty of success is in nobody's power ; how- 
 ever, I'll do my best, and it is not the first difficult 
 commission that I have been employed in. Often goes 
 the pitcher, &c., says the old proverb, but it frightens 
 me not ; and if I am to have the fate of the pitcher, 
 people shall lament me, and say I deserved better luck. 
 There are some people in Ireland who say they are my 
 friends. I shall now see what they will do, or can 
 do. To both their velle and their posse I am as yet a 
 stranger. ' ^ 
 
 Carteret's arrival was anxiously expected by tlie 
 leading men in Dul)lin. It was universally hoped that 
 the new Lord-Lieutenant would at once declare the 
 
 ' Sept. 10, 1724. MSS. Record Office. 
 '^ Ide7)l.
 
 IIG LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 patent cancelled. Already in April, the month of Car- 
 teret's appointment, his old fi'iend Swift, at the request 
 of many influential persons in Ireland, had written 
 hoping that Carteret would do what he could for their 
 relief; and Carteret had replied, unable to say anything 
 very definite, but recognising the unanimous feeling of 
 the Irish people. ' I hope the nation will not suffer by 
 my being in this great station ; and if I can contribute 
 to its prosperity, I shall think it the honour and happi- 
 ness of my life.' When the date of Carteret's arrival 
 was drawing near, Swift wrote again : — 
 
 ' We are here preparing for your reception, and for 
 a quiet session under your government ; but whether 
 you approve the manner, I can only guess. It is by 
 universal declarations against Wood's coin. One thing 
 I am confident of, that your Excellency will find and 
 leave us under dispositions very different, towards your 
 person and high station, from what have appeared to- 
 wards others.' 
 
 Carteret landed on October 23, 1724 ; and by bring- 
 ing Lady Carteret and his daughter with him was 
 thought to meditate a long stay. ' He looks well and 
 pleased,' wrote one who saw him that first day ; ' but 
 how long he may continue so I know not. We seem 
 here bent upon our own ruin.'* The first few days of 
 Carteret's residence in Ireland were mainly occupied 
 with the usual conqolimentary ceremonials. He was 
 exceedingly well received, and especially delighted the 
 University and the citizens of Dublin by his replies 
 to their congratulations. But what would he say 
 about the coinage ? That was the one question which 
 every one was asking. ' Master Wood's brass money ' 
 
 ^ Do^vnes, Bishop of Meatb, to Nicolson, Bishop of Derrj. Nicolson's 
 Currespandeyice, II. 586.
 
 LOBD-LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND 117 
 
 was the sole subject of universal interest. The day 
 after Carteret's arrival, the Dublin bankers published a 
 declaration that they would neither receive nor utter 
 any of Wood's coin. Carteret would make himself the 
 darling of the nation, wrote an Irish Judge to tlie Irish 
 Secretary of State, if he would rid the people of the 
 patent.^ Carteret himself, to whom Ireland was a new 
 field, intended to say nothing on either side till he had 
 made his own investigations on the spot. He seems at 
 once to have repeated the assurance that the Govern- 
 ment had never thought to force the coin upon any 
 persons who might be unwilling to accept it ; but 
 whether the patent was to be maintained or cancelled 
 was a question on which at present he had absolutely 
 nothing to say. His first business was to examine the 
 situation and find out for himself the temper of the 
 people and their leaders ; till he had done this, he 
 intended to make no mention of the views of the 
 ministers in London, or of his own private and personal 
 opinions. Unfortunately, however, on his very arrival 
 he found himself compelled to a special proceeding 
 which the excitedly anxious people interpreted as evi- 
 dence that Carteret was against them. Carteret had 
 been in Dublin a very few hours, when what he him- 
 self called an ' unforeseen accident ' forced unwelcome 
 business into his hands. Three of the too well known 
 Drajners Letters had appeared before Carteret arrived 
 in Ireland. The fourth and most famous of the series 
 was published on the day of his landing, and was 
 beino; cried through the streets and even sold within 
 the gates of the Castle, wliile Carteret was on his way 
 to take the oaths as Lord-Lieutenant. His first greeting 
 
 1 Dr. Coghill to Rt. Hon. E. Southwell; Oct. 31,1724. Add. MSS. 
 21,122; fol. 20, 21.
 
 118 LORD GARTEBET 
 
 in Ireland \vas tlie jingling of Wood's half-pence : a 
 fact upon wliicli Swift congratulated himself with met- 
 rical satisfaction. Carteret perhaps did not on his first 
 day in Ireland see his old friend's manifesto ; but it was 
 brought to him on the following day, and, whether he 
 liked tlie duty or not, liis official position compelled 
 liim to take serious notice of it. Carteret of course 
 knew that Swift was the author of the Drapiers Letters ; 
 it was equally of course that political differences could 
 not interrupt the private friendship of Swift and Car- 
 teret. In this fourth Letter itself, which practically was 
 an indictment of tlie English Government in Ireland, 
 Swift took occasion to speak highly of the new Lord- 
 Lieutenant : — 
 
 ' I speak with the utmost respect to the person 
 and dignity of his Excellency the Lord Carteret, whose 
 character was lately given me by a gentleman [Swift 
 himself in disguise] that has known him from his first 
 appearance in the world. That gentleman describes 
 him as a young nobleman of great accomplishments, 
 excellent learning, regular in his life, and of much spirit 
 and vivacity. He has since, as I have heard, been 
 employed abroad; Avas principal Secretary of State; 
 and is now% about the thirty-seventh year of his age 
 [Carteret was really only thirty-four], appointed Lord- 
 Lieutenant of L'eland. From such a izovernor this kinir- 
 dom may reasonably hope ft)r as mucli prosperity as, 
 under so many discouragements, it can be capable of 
 receivinfj.' ^ 
 
 But Carteret was a member of the English Govern- 
 ment as well as Swift's friend. Whatever misfit be his 
 own personal opinion in this particular dispute between 
 England and Ireland, his first official duty was to pre- 
 
 • Swift, Woi-ks, VI. 442.
 
 LORD-LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND 119 
 
 serve order and promote loyalty ; and as soon as Car- 
 teret had read tlie Drapier's fourtli Letter, lie told Lord 
 Chancellor Midleton that it strnck at the dependency 
 of Ireland on the throne of Great Britain. Midleton, 
 who had not cared to conceal from Walpole his objec- 
 tions to the i^atent, tliongh he declined to make himself 
 responsible for his son's violent proceedings against it 
 in Parliament, had not yet seen the Letter ; but when 
 Carteret spoke so seriously of it, he at once carefully 
 read it, and frankly confessed that he thought it highly 
 seditious. lie agreed with Carteret tliat it could not 
 be passed over unnoticed. Carteret, who was anxious 
 to discover the real temper and disposition of the lead- 
 ing ofEcials in Ireland, resolved to summon the Privy 
 Council and discuss the wliole question with them. 
 
 Carteret had not yet been a week in Ireland wdien 
 he met the Privy Council, the late Lords Justices, and 
 the Judges on this important matter. He delivered his 
 thoughts to them, as he himself says, very freely. But 
 the unquestionable legality of the patent, a point on 
 which he insisted, was not his main point. The popu- 
 lar outcry against the coinage scheme w^as now being 
 artfully employed to weaken Irish feelings of allegiance, 
 and to encourage Irish rebellion a^jainst Enjj^lish rule. 
 
 C CO 
 
 The Drapier's fourth Letter was a concrete instance of 
 this. Carteret, therefore, proposed that its author, 
 ])rinter, and publisher should be prosecuted. 
 
 After some debate, this proposal was accepted ; and 
 Carteret, anxious not to run the risk of fresh difficul- 
 ties in a. second Council, insisted that the necessary 
 proclamation should be drawn up at once. One or 
 two of the members, among them William King, Arch- 
 bishop of Dublin, doubted the expediency of these 
 measures. They feared that the people, disregarding
 
 120 LORD CABTERET 
 
 legal and constitutional subtleties, would insist on see- 
 ing in the prosecution of the Drapier a proof that the 
 hateful coinage was to be forced upon the country. 
 Tliey even feared that it might be impossible to keep 
 tlie public peace. Carteret answered quietly and cha- 
 racteristically : ' As long as I have the honour to be 
 chief governor here, the peace of the kingdom shall be 
 kept.'^ King was not convinced, and said publicly that 
 he feared Carteret would have reason to repent what 
 had been done in Council that day. But Carteret was 
 fully persuaded tliat his action was necessary ; and 
 tlie majority of the Council, and even the reluctant 
 minority, accepted his opinion. For they were all 
 loyal to England, though all firmly opposed to the 
 patent. The Privy Council therefore agreed that a 
 proclamation should at once be issued, offering a re- 
 ward of 300/. for the discovery of the author of the 
 Drapier's fourth Letter. 
 
 Swift himself allows that Carteret's official position 
 compelled him to this action. ' What I did for this 
 country,' Swift wrote nearly ten years later, ' was from 
 perfect hatred of tja-anny and oppression, for which I 
 had a proclamation against me of 300/., which my old 
 friend, my Lord Carteret, waf^ forced to consent to, the 
 very first or second night of liis arrival hither.' No 
 such act of necessary formality could interrupt the 
 friendship between two such men ; but their personal 
 intercourse in Ireland was renewed in a rather extra- 
 ordinary Avay, springing directly from this incident. 
 The day after the issue of the proclamation, Carteret 
 held a levee at the Castle. While the official polite- 
 nesses were proceeding. Swift entered the drawing- 
 room, and made his way through the crowd to the 
 
 1 Carteret to Newcastle ; Oct. 28, 172i. Add. MSS. 9,243 ; fol. 39-41.
 
 LOBD-LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND 121 
 
 circle. He wasted no time on ceremony, but directly 
 and emphatically addressed himself to Carteret : ' So, 
 my Lord-Lieutenant, this is a glorious exploit that you 
 performed yesterday, in issuing a proclamation against 
 a poor shop-keeper, whose only "crime is an honest 
 endeavour to save his country from ruin. You have 
 given a noble specimen of what this devoted nation is 
 to hope for from your government. I suppose you 
 expect a statue of copper will be erected to you for this 
 service done to Wood.' The crowd of courtiers were 
 struck dumb at such a scene and such a profanation of 
 their sacred mysteries. Carteret alone was not in the 
 least disconcerted. He listened to Swift's speech witli 
 quiet composure, and instantly rephed to his friend in 
 Virgil's line : — 
 
 Res dura et regni novitas me talia cogunt 
 Mohri. 
 
 'The whole assembly was struck with the beauty of 
 this quotation, and the levee broke up in good-humour, 
 some extolling the magnanimity of Swift to the skies, 
 and all dehghted with the ingenuity of the Lord- 
 Lieutenant's answer.' ^ 
 
 Two days after the Privy Council had sanctioned 
 the proclamation. Archbishop King came to Carteret, 
 and after speaking of the affairs of L-eland in what 
 Carteret reckoned a ' very extraordinary manner,' told 
 the Lord-Lieutenant that the Drapier had some thought 
 of declaring his name, and acknowledging the author- 
 ship of the Letters. Carteret knew who the writer was 
 as well as King or the Drapier himself, but he had no 
 official knowledge or formal proof of the fact. King 
 believed that in a legal trial the Drapier would be in no 
 
 > Sheridan's Stdft, 213, 214.
 
 122 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 danger whatever. Ilis crime was popiilarly assumed 
 to be his attack on Wood's half-pence, and on that issue 
 no jury would convict him. Carteret could not listen 
 to arguments of tliis kind. He noticeably left the 
 question of the coinage quite alone, but tlie otlier 
 question he could not pass over even if he liad wished 
 to do so. ' I told him,' wrote Carteret in his account 
 of his interview with King, ' tluit tlie libel contained 
 such seditious, and in my opinion treasonable matter, 
 as called upon a chief governor liere to exert his ut- 
 most power in bringing the author of it to justice.' ^ 
 Not that Carteret thought this w^ould be a very easy 
 proceeding. The event, he also acknowledged, was 
 uncertain. But he was resolved to go on vigorously. 
 ' If the boldness of this author should be so great as 
 the Archbishop intimates, I am fully determined to 
 summon him before the Council, and though I should 
 not be supported by them as I could wash, yet I shall 
 think it my duty to order his being taken into custod}^ 
 and to detain him, if I can by law, till his majesty's 
 pleasure shall be further signified to me ; for if his ofler 
 of bail should be immediately accepted, and he forth- 
 witli set at liberty, after so daring an insult upon his 
 majesty's Government, it is to be apprehended that riots 
 and tumults will ensue, and that ill-disposed persons 
 will run after tliis author and represent him to be the 
 defender of their liberties, whicli the people are falsely 
 made to believe are attacked in this affair of tlie half- 
 pence. ... It is the general opinion here that Dr. 
 Swift is author of the pampldet, and yet nobody tliinks 
 it can be |)roved upon liim, thougli many believe he 
 will be spirited up to own it. Your Grace by this may 
 see what opinion the Archbishop of Dublin and Swift 
 
 ' Caiteret to Newcastle ; Oct. .30, 1724. Add. MSS. 0,243 ; fol. 42.
 
 LOIW-LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND 128 
 
 liave of the humour of the people, Avhose affections they 
 liave exceedingly gained of late by inveighing against 
 the half-pence.' ^ 
 
 Archbishop King's hints proved of no real value. 
 TheDrapier did not come forward, and it was impossible 
 to compel him to confess himself. His printer was 
 arrested, but the general suspicion that the grand jury 
 would find no true bill against this insignificant man 
 was fully justified. On the evening before the presen- 
 tation of the bill, one of Swift's numberless manifestoes, 
 Seasonable Advice to the Grand Jury, was Avidely dis- 
 tributed, with such telling effect that the bill was 
 unanimously rejected. One of the jury ventured to 
 treat Swift's paper w^ith some coldness. lie was a 
 banker, and immediately so violent a run was made 
 upon his bank that it was feared he would be compelled 
 to stop payment. The Lord Chief Justice discharged 
 the grand jury, and summoned another ; but the second 
 was more obstinately resolute than the first. Its first 
 act Avas to make a presentment (of course by Swift) de- 
 claring Wood's half-pence a nuisance, and the temper 
 of the jurymen was so evident that the Government 
 found it prudent to make no mention to them of the 
 scheme or of anything whatever connected Avith it. 
 However much Carteret might be thinking of the 
 strictly political side of the question, the people 
 would see nothing in the affair but Wood and his 
 coinage. Carteret noticed that since the Government 
 had shown some vigour, Avriters also had shown 
 more caution ; but there Avas no diminution at all in 
 tlie agitation. Town and country Avere both perfectly 
 unanimous. Carteret, himself quite lukeAvarm about 
 the coinage, Avas astonished at the passionate and 
 
 ' Carteret to Newcastle ; Oct. 30, 1724. Add. MSS. 0,24-3 -, fol. 42, 43.
 
 124 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 iniiversal excitement. The copper money then current 
 in Ireland was, says Carteret, tlic worst that ever was 
 seen, and much of it had been lying by — a mere loss to 
 its owners ; yet now, with perverse patriotism, this base 
 coinage was put into currency again as an answer to 
 the argument that more copper coin was needed in 
 Ireland. One of the leading men in Ireland told Car- 
 teret that this question of Wood's patent was the only 
 afhiir he remembered in which he could make no 
 friends or find any one to listen to reason. Though 
 England had already so considerably yielded, there was 
 still a common suspicion that the currency would be 
 forced on the nation. Trade was suffering throusjh 
 imaginary fears which thus became real evils. Carteret, 
 reporting home, when he had been only three weeks in 
 Dublin, modestly declined after so very short a time to 
 ofler any deliberate opinion, but he did not minimise 
 the situation : — 
 
 ' This rage, for I can call it no otherwise, is now 
 working up to such a height that the best of his 
 majesty's subjects here, who do not agree in the popular 
 clamour, but condemn the late heat of their parliament, 
 and dread the consequences that such another session 
 may bring upon Ireland, say it is to be wished that his 
 majesty, who has always made tlie law the rule and 
 measure of his government, would now be . . . pleased 
 to recede from that rule in this one instance.' ^ A few 
 days later Carteret expressed his fear that an Irish jury 
 would find treason itself not to be treason, if it were 
 coloured over with the popular invectives against 
 Wood's half-pence. 
 
 Carteret had not ventured, after three weeks' expe- 
 rience of Ireland, to state definitely what must be done. 
 
 J Carteret to Newcastle; Nov. 14, 1724. Add. MSS. 9,243; fol. 46-48.
 
 LOBD-LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND 125 
 
 But a second three Aveeks left him without a doubt. 
 In December 1724, tlie Government in London wrote 
 anxiously to him. The King, concerned that Carteret's 
 endeavours had as yet produced so little effect, wished 
 his advice ; the King and the ministers wished to know 
 how to uphold the law, and at the same time satisfy 
 the Irish people. Carteret, who had actively gleaned 
 information from every source of value, could come to 
 only one conclusion. The patent must be given up. 
 No other advice, he said, could be given by any one who 
 had examined the condition of Ireland. If once the 
 'terror' of the half-pence were withdrawn, the Irish 
 parliament would cause no further trouble ; would vote 
 some compensation to Wood, and so close the incident. 
 No counsel could have been clearer and more direct 
 than Carteret's on this matter. 
 
 The Government had asked Carteret's advice ; but 
 did not particularly like it when it was given. It liad 
 taken a long time to convince Walpole and Townshend 
 tliat tlie Irisli discontent was really serious. When 
 Walpole was once convinced, he was statesman enough 
 to decline to match liis personal views against the feelings 
 of a whole nation. But Townshend, always passionate, 
 wrote angrily to Carteret. Was the Enghsh King to 
 make private bargains with the Irisli parliament ? With 
 impotent indignation Townshend was still informing 
 Carteret, in December 1724, that the search for some 
 ' expedient ' to quiet the minds of the Irish people was 
 yet going on. Carteret, speaking on this subject witli 
 more authority than all the otlier ministers taken to- 
 gether, had plainly told them that there was only one 
 expedient. Boulter, the newly appointed Primate of 
 Ireland, an Englishman, and a man not likely to advise 
 measures of too great leniency towards the Irish people,
 
 126 LOBD CABTERET 
 
 was also strongly urging upon the Governmerjt the view 
 which Carteret was expressing. Like Carteret, Boulter 
 took pains to discover for himself the opinions of the 
 leading men in Ireland, and of the various sections of 
 the people. He found Protestants and Catholics, Whigs, 
 Tories, and Jacobites, disagreeing in all things else, at 
 one in tlieir views on the coinage ; and Boulter's volu- 
 minous letters to the ministers in England insist with 
 much emphasis upon the solution which Carteret had 
 urged months before he had even left England : the 
 abandonment of the patent, and some fair compensation 
 to Wood, ' Without doing something like this, there is 
 no prospect of any end of our present heats and animo- 
 sities.' ^ A few days before the date of this letter 
 Carteret had reiterated his advice, and liad told Towns- 
 hend that the ferment among the people, only in part 
 allayed, was ready to break out again on the slightest 
 occasion ; while a private letter from Dublin, written 
 on the same day as Carteret's, shows how the popular 
 dread of the currency stood in the way of Carteret's 
 already great personal popularity. ' My Lord-Lieutenant 
 does all that can be tli ought on, to obtain upon the 
 minds of the people, and with great applause ; but 
 then, it is curious with 'em to say that all he does is 
 with design to introduce the lialf-pence^ but that shall not 
 do ; neither eating and drinking, civility nor good ivords, 
 shall alter their minds as to that.' ^ 
 
 In spite of the pressing appeals of Carteret and 
 Boulter, the spring and summer of 1725 passed by, and 
 the ministers in London made no sign. The time for 
 the meeting of tlie Irish ])arliament was- drawing near, 
 and on all sides there was prophecy of parliamentary 
 
 ' To NeAvcastle ; Jan. 19, I":!-"). Boulter's Letters, I. 13. 
 - MSS. Record Office. Jan. 0, 1725.
 
 LORD-LIEUTENANT OF IBELAND 127 
 
 trouble if the patent wei'e not disposed of to the satis- 
 faction of members at the very beginning of their 
 deliberations. Would Carteret be authorised to say in 
 his speech that the whole scheme was cancelled ? 
 Midleton, no longer Lord Chancellor of Ireland, and 
 not able to boast of any special favour from Carteret, 
 was inclined to think that the ministers in England 
 were anxious to ruin Carteret's chance of success in 
 Ireland and to make him appear unable to do the 
 King service there ; and that, therefore, they would 
 refuse to do anything which might assist Carteret to 
 hold a successful session.^ Parliament was to meet 
 in September ; in August nothing was yet settled. The 
 absurd Duke of Newcastle was continuins; to write to 
 Carteret in an irritatingly placid manner, mildly asking 
 if Carteret had yet found any way to end this unhappy 
 business. As if Carteret had not montlis before tokl 
 the absurd Duke what must be done ! And not only had 
 he told the ministers what they must do ; he had also 
 urged upon them the necessity of doing it at once. But 
 the Government had not acted upon his advice, and 
 l)arliament was now about to meet while all was still in 
 suspense. ' Carteret wrote once more in August, and 
 plainly told the ministers that no viceroy could carry 
 on the affairs of the session till this question was once 
 for all settled. They had disregarded the warnings 
 which for nine months he had been jrivincf them, and 
 
 or? 7 
 
 now there was only one effectual way of freeing them- 
 selves from their embarrassment. He desired to be 
 authorised to declare in his speech at the opening of the 
 session that the patent was entirely cancelled. 
 
 It was impossible for the ministers any longer to 
 
 ' Midleton to Thos. Brodrick, July 4, 1725. Add. MSS. 9,243 ; fol. 
 59-G3.
 
 128 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 neglect Carteret's advice. The inevitable resolution, 
 wliicli might have been taken so much more gracefully 
 at a far earlier date, was adopted only some two or 
 three weeks before the parliament met. On Septem- 
 ber 21, 1725, Carteret delivered the speech from the 
 throne with an eloquent emphasis which much delighted 
 those who heard it ; but it needed none of the charms 
 of rhetoric to make his very first words palatable : — 
 
 ' I have his majesty's commands at the opening of 
 this session to acquaint you that an entire end is put to 
 the patent.' 
 
 The end had come at last. A little unavoidable 
 parliamentary wrangling followed, and Wood and his 
 patent became extinct for ever. The House of Commons 
 dutifully thanked the King for his goodness, and in very 
 warm terms thanked Carteret also for what he had 
 done for them ; but the discontented spirits in the 
 Lords, and especially Archbishop King and ex-Chancellor 
 Midleton, hoped to make what mischief they could. 
 Carteret had appointed Primate Boulter to prepare and 
 move the address of the Lords to the Kini^, and 
 Boulter proposed gratefully to acknowledge the King's 
 f;\vour and condescension in cancelling the patent which 
 he had granted ; but King maliciously moved that they 
 should thank the royal wisdom too ; clearly hinting tliat 
 if the King had been Avise in ending the patent, his 
 ministers had been exceedingly foolish in accepting it. 
 The Lords agreed to King's sarcastic gratitude, but, 
 thanks to Carteret's earnest endeavours, the addition 
 was flung out again on a later stage of the proceedings, 
 and the address restored to its original wordini:^. So 
 Carteret's first Irish session opened auspiciously, and 
 ran through its course with all the quiet that could be 
 expected.
 
 LOED-LIEUTENANT OF IBELAND 129 
 
 Carteret was Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland for six years ; 
 but after the coinage incident was concluded, these 
 years offer — with one exception — little or nothing of any 
 personal interest or of any real connection with the bio- 
 graphy of Carteret. The details of tlie official speeches 
 which he delivered, and of the various sessions which 
 he held, belong to parliamentary history, and only very 
 formally to Carteret's life. It is very incidentally that 
 anything beyond tlie barren official traces of Carteret's 
 political connection Avith Ireland can now be recovered. 
 But he took real interest in Ireland, and the testi- 
 mony of both friends and enemies of the English 
 government of L'eland agrees that he was a good 
 viceroy. His position was by no means an easy one. 
 To say that the two most prominent men in Dulilin 
 during Carteret's Lord-Lieutenancy were Dean Swift and 
 Archbishop Boulter, is almost to write in short the 
 Irish political history of the time. Swift and Boulter 
 were radically opposed to each other in their political 
 views : one of them the adored delight of tlie Irish 
 l)eople, the other the embodiment of that Enghsh policy 
 towards Ireland wliicli found favour in the first half of 
 the eighteenth centuiy. Boulter, an Englishman, and 
 practically the ruler of Ireland, outdid even the Whig 
 ministers in Euijjland in his disrerrard of Irisli interests 
 and Irish national feelinGf. Ireland in liis view existed 
 simply and solely for the advantage of England. The 
 ' English interest,' as it was called, was the object of 
 his unceasing solicitude. His copious letters are full of 
 agitated watclifulness on behalf of the ' English part}",' 
 the ' friends of Ensfland,' the ' Enfjlish interest.' Wlien- 
 ever an official post of any kind fell vacant, Boulter was 
 in a condition of fluttered anxiety till an Englishman 
 was safely deposited in it. Even when he did anything 
 
 k
 
 130 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 that was politically or socially good for Ireland, he did 
 it only because it was for the benefit of England also. 
 On the other side stood Swift, also an Englishman, 
 though, as he bitterly phrased it, he had been ' dropped ' 
 in Ireland ; with no affection for Ireland, and cursing 
 the exile's life which he was forced to pass there. 
 He despised the Irish people, but he could oppose a 
 tyranny which neglected the elements of natural justice ; 
 and even before his memorable appearance as tlie 
 Dublin Drapier, he had decisively joined the Irish 
 party, and had denounced with all the force of his in- 
 dignant irony the wrongs done by the strong country 
 to the weak one. He allowed even the play of his 
 casual conversation to illustrate his contempt of the 
 English method of ruling Ireland. Lady Carteret once 
 remarked to him on the pleasantness of the Irish air. 
 Swift fell down on his knees and said, ' For God's sake, 
 madam, don't say so in England, they will certainly tax 
 it.' ^ Even if better reasons for indignation had failed 
 him. Swift had wrongs of his own to avenge, for he 
 had been neglected by Wal]:)olc, and he hated the 
 Whigs. The Whig Carteret was indeed his personal 
 friend, but that did not blunt Swift's opposition to the 
 political system of which Carteret was the official repre- 
 sentative. Swift never forgot anything in the nature 
 of a personal affront, and lie never forgot that tlic 
 Whics had manao'ed to do witliout him. 
 
 Between the rival policies personified in Boulter and 
 in Swift, the position of a Lord-Lieutenant wfio was a 
 member of the English Cabinet, and yet, like Carteret, 
 without prejudice and prepossession in his dealings witli 
 Ireland, was not free from embarrassment. He could 
 
 ' Anecdote told by Voltaire at Ferney in 1770. Sherlock's Letters of 
 an Eiujlish Traveller, I. lOS.
 
 LORD-LIEUTENANT OF IBELAND 131 
 
 not be anti-Irisli enough to satisfy Boulter, or anti- 
 English enough to please Swift. And there was not 
 much assistance to be hoped for from the Irish parlia- 
 ment ; an assemblajje indeed which, considering- its total 
 Avant of legislative independence, coidd not be a very 
 striking political body. Very many years after his own 
 connection with Ireland was over, Carteret expressed 
 what could not help being a very contemptuous opinion 
 of the Irish Houses. In 1758 the Duke of Bedford w^as 
 Lord-Lieutenant, and found his parliament very difficult 
 to deal with. Carteret and Fox had some conversation 
 on the subject, and Fox reported to Bedford what 
 Carteret had said : — 
 
 ' His Lordship says your Grace has nothing to do 
 but to let them dash their loQ:£^erheads together, and 
 to transmit wdiatever nonsense they may cook up to 
 England to be rejected, remaining quietly and coolly at 
 the Castle, till with the last transmiss of bills your Grace 
 desires leave to come away.' ^ 
 
 English policy towards Ireland in the reigns of the 
 first two Georges was preparing the mischief which did 
 not fail to follow. One political fact is as eloquent as 
 a hundred. The Irish parliament which met in 1727 
 continued to sit till 1760. But things were very tran- 
 quil during Carteret's Irisli rule. The people had 
 triumphed over the English Government, Walpole had 
 been forced to humble himself before Swift, and the Irisli 
 were satisfied. Carteret had his little administrative 
 troubles of the usual sort ; but tlie factious and the dis- 
 affected found that lie had a mind and will of his own, 
 and that, while he was governor, impudent meddlesome- 
 ness was not the road to very brilliant success. A fussily 
 
 ^ Lord J. Russell's Correspondence of the 'ith Duke of Bedford, II, olG, 
 Jan. 7, 1758. 
 
 K 2
 
 132 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 important section of members, elated by their victory 
 over Wood and liis patent, with gratuitous condescen- 
 sion offered to manage all public affairs to Carteret's 
 complete satisfaction if only the Lord-Lieutenant would 
 throw himself entirely into their hands. Carteret plainly 
 replied tliat he had not come to Ireland to be put into 
 leading-strings, and completely extinguished the insolent 
 hopes of these ambitious busy-bodies. Of course tliey 
 afterwards gave liiui all the trouble they could. But 
 Carteret had a perfect temper, and was not at all dis- 
 turbed by tlie excited extravagances of petulant passion. 
 Absolutely refusing to make himself the tool of any 
 faction, he endeavoured, as far as the fettered position 
 of a Lord-Lieutenant would allow, to act with equal 
 friendliness towards the representatives of both the 
 English and the Irish parties. Swift and Boulter 
 both recoo;nise his uood-will towards tliem. Carteret 
 of course could not always do Avhat Swift would have 
 wished ; Swift complains that lie sometimes had to speak 
 surdis aurihus. Yet Carteret, not thinking that Tory 
 and traitor wei'e necessarily synonymous, listened when 
 he could to Swift's recommendations, and gained Swift's 
 thanks for doing so. The very little which Carteret 
 ventured to do for the so-called patriotic party in L'eland 
 produced loud and persistent outcry from disappointed 
 partisans ; with one excellent result so far as Carteret 
 was personally concerned, for it drew from Swift liis 
 humorously serious Vindication of Lord Carteret from 
 the charge of favouring none but Tories^ High Churchmen., 
 and Jacobites. To be praised by both Boulter and 
 Swift was at least a proof of impartiality, and Boulter's 
 words are : — 
 
 ' We are obliged to your Lordship for the early care 
 you took of us English here, and everybody here is
 
 LORD-LIEUTENANT OF IBELAND 133 
 
 sensible of what advantage it will be to his majesty's 
 service that we have had a governor of your Excellency's 
 abilities long enough amongst us to know as much of 
 tills country as any native.' ^ 
 
 When Carteret's Lord-Lieutenantship was closing, 
 Boulter congratulated himself that in Carteret Ireland 
 had a friend who on all occasions woidd be able to 
 serve her. 
 
 Carteret's Irish rule ended in 1730. His personal 
 success had been unbounded, and his poliUcal manage- 
 ment characterised by great dexterity and unwearied 
 industry. His careful inquiry into financial and other 
 details which were commonly let alone with contented 
 indifference, disturbed the sluggish routine of easily 
 satisfied officials, but gained for the Lord-Lieutenant 
 great popularity with all other classes of the people ; 
 wliile his affable manners, his wit, and his courteous 
 hospitalit}^ made him the favourite in Ireland which an 
 Em^lish governor too seldom was. Newcastle's malicious 
 hope that Carteret's viceroyalty might prove a ruinous 
 failure was falsified as completely as it deserved to be. 
 Swift had prophesied differently, and Swift's anticipa- 
 tions were realised. 
 
 A pleasant incident of Carteret's Lord-Lieutenancy 
 was the i-enewal of liis ])ersoiial intercourse with Swift. 
 A gap of ten years liad interrupted it. The deatli of 
 Queen Anne and the consequent ftill of Bolingbroke had 
 made Swift's political situation hopeless, and he with- 
 drew to the dreary exile of his Dublin deanery. After 
 ten year^' experience of that unwelcome retirement, the 
 announcement of his friend Carteret's appointment to 
 Ireland was no doubt welcome to Swift. In that year 
 he wrote a poem wliirli is a panegyric on Carteret's 
 
 * Boulter to Carteret; July 15, 1727. Boulter's Letters, I. 18G.
 
 1B4 LORD CARTE BET 
 
 character and conduct at the University, at Court, and 
 in foreign neo'otiations ; and closed his verses with a 
 
 CO ' 
 
 reference to Carteret's expected arrival at Dublin : — 
 
 Fame now reports, the Western Isle 
 Is made his mansion for a while, 
 Whose anxious natives, night and day, 
 (Happy beneath his righteous sway,) 
 Weary the gods with ceaseless prayer, 
 To bless him and to keep him there ; 
 And claim it as a debt from Fate, 
 Too lately found, to lose him late. 
 
 But the renewal of the friendship of the two men 
 was prefaced by a sliglit misunderstanding. Swift, as 
 soon as he heard that Carteret was to be the new Lord- 
 Lieutenant, had written to him, expressing his pleased 
 expectation of seeing him, and promising to be neither a 
 too frequent guest nor a troublesome solicitor. Carteret, 
 wlio was making various excursions in the country at 
 the time that Swift's letter reached him, was a little slow 
 in replying ; and Swift, fancying himself slighted, wrote 
 testily : — 
 
 ' I have been long out of the w^orld, but have not 
 forgotten wliat used to pass among those I lived with 
 while I was in it ; and I can say that during the expe- 
 rience of many years, your Excellency, and one more, 
 who is not worthy to be compared to you, are the only 
 great persons that ever ]-efused to answer a letter from 
 me, without regard to business, party, or greatness ; and 
 if I had not a peculiar esteem for your personal qualities, 
 I should think myself to be acting a ver}^ inferior part in 
 making this complaint. ... I know not liow your con- 
 ceptions of myself may alter, by every new higli station ; 
 but mine must continue the same or alter for the worse. 
 I often told a great minister, whom j^ou well knew, that
 
 LOED-LIEUTENANT OF IBELAND 185 
 
 I valued him for being tlic same man tlirougli all the 
 l)rogress of poAver and place. I expected the like in 
 your Lordship, and still hope that I shall be the only 
 person who will ever find it otherwise. I pray God to 
 direct your Excellency in all your good undertakings, 
 and especially in your government of this kingdom.' ^ 
 
 This letter, in spite of its hasty assumption that 
 Carteret was neglecting him, is ample evidence of Swift's 
 very high estimation of Carteret. The compliment that 
 Swift's opinion of Carteret, if it changed at all, could 
 only change for the worse, is a very fine one. Carteret's 
 letter of reply, with just a touch of fight sarcasm where 
 he speaks of the ' agreea!)le freedom with which you 
 express yourself,' is proof on liis side of his affectionate 
 regard for Swift, and of the admirable temper with 
 which he received Swift's unfounded suspicions : — 
 
 ' To begin by confessing myself in the wrong will, I 
 hope, be some proof to you that none of the stations 
 which I have gone through have hitherto had the effects 
 upon me which you apprehend. If a month's silence 
 has been turned to my disadvantage in your esteem, it 
 has at least had this good effect, that I am convinced 
 by the kindness of your reproaches, as well as by the 
 goodness of your advice, that you still retain some part 
 of your former friendship for me, of which I am the 
 more confident from the airreeable freedom with which 
 you express yourself; and I shall not forfeit my pre- 
 tensions to the continuance of it by doing anytlung that 
 shall give you occasion to think that I am insensible of 
 it. . . . I hope the nation will not suffer by my being 
 in this great station, and if I can contribute to its pro- 
 sperity, I shall think it the honour and happiness of my 
 life. I desire you to believe what I say, and particularly 
 
 ' Swift to Carteret ; June 9, 1724. Works, XVI. 432, 433.
 
 136 LOUD CABTEBET 
 
 when I profess myself to be with great truth, Sir, your 
 most faithful and affectionate humble servant.' ^ 
 
 This kind reply — tJie omitted sentences explain tlie 
 cause of Carteret's delay in writing — made Swift ashamed 
 of liimself and his testy assumptions ; and he wrote 
 aiJ:ain to Carteret : — 
 
 'I humbly claim the privilege of an inferior, to be 
 the last writer ; yet, witli great acknowledgments for 
 your condescension in answering my letters, I cannot but 
 complain of you for putting me in the wrong. I am in 
 the circumstances of a waitings-woman, who told her 
 lady tliat notliing vexed her more than to be cauglit in 
 a lie. But what is worse, I have discovered in myself 
 somewhat of the bully, and, after all my ratthng, you have 
 brought me down to be as humble as the most distant 
 attender at your levee. It is well your Excellency's 
 talents are in few hands ; for, if it were otherwise, we 
 who pretend to be free speakers in quality of philo- 
 sophers should be utterly cured of our forwardness ; at 
 least I am afraid there will be an end of mine, w^ith 
 regard to your Excellency. Yet, my lord, 1 am ten years 
 older tlian I was when I liad the honour to see you last, 
 and consequently ten times more testy. Therefore I 
 foretell that you, wlio could conquer so captious a per- 
 son, and of so little consequence, will quickly subdue 
 lliis whole kingdom to love and reverence you.''"^ 
 
 Carteret gracefully refused to let Swift be the last 
 writer: — 
 
 ' Your claim to be the last writer is what I can never 
 allow; that is the privilege of ill writers, and I am re- 
 solved to give you complete satisfaction by leaving it 
 with you, whether I shall be the last w^riter or not. 
 Methinks I see you throw this letter upon your table in 
 
 1 Carteret to Swift ; June 20, 1724. Swift, Works, XYI. 433, 434. 
 
 2 Swift, Works, XVI. 434, 435. July 9, 1724.
 
 LOBD-LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND 137 
 
 the height of spleen, because it may have interrupted 
 some of your more agreeable thoughts. But then, in 
 return, you may have the comfort of not answering it, 
 and so convince my Lord-Lieutenant that you value him 
 less now than you did ten years ago. I do not know 
 but this mig]it become a free speaker and a philosopher. 
 Whatever you may think of it I shall not be testy, but 
 endeavour to show that I am not altogether insensible 
 of the force of that genius which has outshone most of 
 this age, and, when you will display it again, can con- 
 vince us that its lustre and strength are still the same. 
 
 ' Once more I commit myself to your censure, and 
 am. Sir, with great respect, 
 
 your most affectionate humble servant, 
 
 ' Carteret.' ^ 
 
 Swift manao'ed to have the last word, and soon after 
 this last letter the two correspondents met eacli other 
 again in Dublin. The extraordinary scene at the Castle 
 levee probably first reintroduced Carteret and Swift; 
 and their acquaintance was soon renewed with the old 
 private pleasantness. Lady Carteret, who from her 
 window thirteen years before had pointed out to Swift 
 his hat flung u])on the railings by tlie wild boisterousness 
 of ladies of title, was also glad to meet again her own 
 and liei' mol lier's iViend. Lady Carteret was a special 
 favourite with Swift, and in his intercourse with her 
 there was no trace of the domineerinir roughness which 
 he so commonly adopted towards ladies of rank. With 
 her mother. Lady Worsley, Swift had been specially in- 
 timate in tlie Queen Anne and Bolingbroke days ; and 
 now that he was far away from nearly all his old friends 
 he had hoped that Lady Worsley would have accom- 
 panied her daughter to Ireland. She did not do so; but 
 
 » Swift, Works, XVI. 430, 440. Aug. 4, 1724.
 
 138 LORD CARTERET 
 
 the presence of Lady Carteret was fur Swift a pleasant 
 renewal of the friendship in the second generation. 
 They were on terms of affectionate and, on each side, 
 respectful intimacy. Lady Carteret bids him come to 
 dine with her at the Castle. He goes, but his spirits 
 fail liim at the thouijht of Vicerefral state, and he es- 
 capes home. Lady Carteret forgives him ; and as he had 
 not dined with her she instead visits him, and Swift, as 
 a condition of forgiveness, turns the little incident into 
 easy rliyme in his pleasant Apolo</i/ to Lady Carteret: — 
 
 Cau it be strange, if I eschew 
 A scene so glorious and so new ? 
 Or is he criminal that flies 
 The living lustre of vour eves ? 
 
 Swift's poor health, the deafness and giddiness wdiich 
 repeatedly distressed him and sometimes drove him from 
 Dublin in search of country air, prevented him from' 
 beinij so much with his friends at the Castle as he felt 
 inclined to be ; for it was only in verse that he feared 
 the living lustre of Lady Carteret's eyes. The intimate 
 terms of his friendship with her and with her mother, 
 Lady Worsley, are well illustrated by three letters, two 
 of Avhicli are not printed in the Works of Swift. In 
 A})ril 1730, the month in which Carteret's Lord-Lieu- 
 tenancy ended. Swift wrote to Lady Worsley: — 
 
 ' My Lady Carteret (if you know such a lady) com- 
 mands me to pursue my own inclination ; which is, to 
 honour myself with writing you a letter ; and thereby 
 endeavouring to preserve myself in your memory, in 
 spite of an acquaintance of more years than, in regard 
 to my own reputation as a young gentleman, I care to 
 recollect. I forget whether I had not some reasons to 
 be angry with your ladyship when I was last in England. 
 I hope to see you very soon the youngest great-grand
 
 LORD-LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND 189 
 
 mother in Europe ; aud fifteen years hence (which I 
 sliall liave nothing to do with) you will be at the 
 amusement of — " Eise up, daughter," &c. You are to 
 answer tliis letter, and to inform me of your healtli and 
 liumour ; and whether you like your daughter better or 
 worse, after liavimy so Ions; conversed with the Irisli 
 world, and so little with me. Tell me wliat are your 
 amusements at present ; cards, Court, books, visiting, or 
 fondhng (I liumbly beg your ladysliip's pardon, but it 
 is between ourselves) your grand-children? My Lady 
 Carteret has been the best Queen we have known in 
 Ireland these many years; yet is she mortally hated by 
 all the young girls, because (and it is your fault) she is 
 handsomer than all of them together. Pray do not 
 insult poor Ireland on this occasion, for it would have 
 been exactly the same thing in London. And therefore 
 I shall advise the King, when I go next to England, to 
 send no more of her sort, (if such another can be found) 
 for fear of turning all his loyal female subjects here 
 against him. . . . My Lady Carteret has made me a pre- 
 sent, which I take to be malicious, with a desic^n to stand 
 in your place. Therefore I would have you to provide 
 against it by another, and something of your own work, 
 as hers is ; for you know I always expect advances and 
 presents from ladies.' ^ 
 
 In reply. Lady Worsley promised Swift a writing-box, 
 and he wrote in res])onse: — 
 
 ' I am in some doubt whether envy had not a great 
 share in your work, for you were, I suppose, informed 
 that my Lady Carteret had made for me with her own 
 hands the finest box in Ireland; upon wliicli you grew 
 jealous, and resolved to outdo her by making for me 
 the finest box in England. ... In short, I am quite 
 
 ' Swift, Works, XVII. 302, 303.
 
 140 LORD CAETERET 
 
 overloadeii with favours from your ladyship and your 
 daughter, and, what is worse, those loads will lie upon my 
 shoulders as long as I live. But I confess myself a little 
 ungrateful, because I cannot deny j'-our ladyship to have 
 been the most constant of all my goddesses, as I am the 
 most constant of all your worshippers. I hope the Car- 
 terets and the Worsleys are all happy and in health. . . . 
 I beg your ladj^ship will prevail on Sir Eobert Worsley to 
 give me a vicarage in the Isle of Wight ; for I am weary 
 of living at such a distance from you. It need not be 
 above forty pounds a year.' ^ 
 
 The present arrived, and Swift acknowdedged it. 
 What a contrast between the easy familiarity and light 
 banter of his first sentences, and the soeva indignatio of 
 the last ! 
 
 ' The work itself does not delight me more than the 
 little cares you were pleased to descend to in contriv- 
 ing ways to have it conveyed so far without damage, 
 whereof it received not the least from without : what 
 there was came from within ; for one of the little rings that 
 lifts a drawer for wax hath touched a part of one of the 
 pictures, and made a mark as large as the head of a small 
 j)in ; but it touches only an end of a cloud ; and yet I 
 have been careful to twist a small thread of silk round 
 that wicked ring, who promiseth to do so no more. . . . 
 
 ' I beg you, madam, tliat tliere may be no quarrels 
 of jealousy between your lad3'ship and my Lady Car- 
 teret ; I set her at work by the authority I claimed 
 over her as your daughter. The young woman showed 
 her readiness, and performed very well for a new begin- 
 ner, and deserves encouragement. Besides, she filled tlie 
 
 1 This and the following letter of Swift, not printed in Scott's Edition 
 of Swift's Works, are given in Notes and Queries, series I. vol. IV. pp. 218- 
 2-20. The dates are May 1, 17.'31, and Nov. 4, 17.32.
 
 LOBD-LIEUTENANT OF IBELAND 141 
 
 chest with tea, whereas you did not send me a single 
 pen, a stick of wax, or a drop of ink ; for all of which 
 I must bear the charge out of my own pocket. And, 
 after all, if your ladyship were not by, I would say 
 that my Lady Carteret's box (as you disdainfully call it, 
 instead of a tea-chest) is a most beautiful piece of work, 
 and is oftener used than yours, because it is brought 
 down for tea after dinner among ladies, whereas my 
 escritoire never stirs out of my closet, but when it is 
 brought for a sight. Therefore, I again desire there may 
 be no family quarrels upon my account. . . . 
 
 ' Are you not weary, madam ? Have you patience 
 to read all this ? I am bringing back past times ; I 
 imagine myself talking with you as I used to do ; but 
 on a sudden I recollect where I am sitting, banished to 
 a country of slaves and beggars ; my blood soured, my 
 spirits sunk, fighting with beasts like St. Paul, not at 
 Ephesus, but in Ireland.' 
 
 ' In Ireland '; that was half of Swift's wretchedness. 
 Was he, in his own words, to die there in a rage, like 
 a poisoned rat in a hole ? Tlie presence of the Carterets, 
 recalling to him old scenes and old friends in England, 
 was doubtless a very acceptable relief to Swift ; and 
 Carteret found his renewed intimacy with the Dean one 
 of the not too numerous attractions of his residence in 
 Dublin. Swift and the friends of Swift were the society 
 in which he delighted. One of these most intimate 
 friends was the well-known schoolmaster, Dr. Sheridan, 
 whose scholarship Carteret could well appreciate. Car- 
 teret delighted to lay aside the tedious formahties of 
 his position, to slip quietly from the Castle in a hackney- 
 chair, and pass private evenings at Sheridan's with 
 Swift. Sheridan was a learned, absent-minded, simple- 
 hearted man, and, in Swift's opinion, the best teacher
 
 142 LORD CABTERET 
 
 in the kingdom ; perhaps, tlie best in Europe. He was 
 one of the first whom Swift recommended to Carteret 
 in Ireland, and Carteret, attracted by Sheridan's scholar- 
 ship, gladly gave him such small preferment in the 
 Church as was at his disposal, and privately treated him 
 on terms of much friendship. Sheridan's pupils delighted 
 Carteret by the performance of a Greek play, while 
 Carteret astonished Sheridan by his intimate knowledge 
 of the original. The play happened to be one of Sopho- 
 cles'; and Sophocles was one of the few books which 
 Carteret had had with him during his wearisome nego- 
 tiations in the North. While in Denmark, and confined 
 to his house partly by illness, partly by severe weather, 
 he had read his author so repeatedly that he had learnt 
 the plays almost line for line, and his naturally very 
 strong memory did not let them go. Carteret modestly 
 read over with Sheridan the selected play before the 
 public representation ; but Sheridan found that his new 
 pupil needed no assistance. Being, as Swift says, very 
 learned himself, Carteret delighted to encourage learn- 
 ing in others ; and it was after tiiis classical performance 
 that he did all that he could for Sheridan. Unfor- 
 tunately, Sheridan did not keep his Church appointments 
 long, but ruined his clerical outlook by his own innocent 
 absent-mindedness. Preaching on tlie anniversary of 
 the Hanoverian accession, he selected for his unfortunate 
 text : ' Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.' Dis- 
 appointed and spiteful busy-bodies chose to represent 
 this as an intentional insult and profession of Jacobit- 
 ism ; and the outcry of the Whigs compelled Carteret 
 to cancel the small oflScial favour which he had gladly 
 shown to a learned man who happened to be also a 
 Tory. 
 
 Other friends of Swift were more fortunate than
 
 LORD-LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND 143 
 
 Sheridan ; for Carteret attended to Swift's recommenda- 
 tions whenever he could possibly do so. It was not 
 always possible. Carteret was the representative of a 
 Whig Government, and considerably fettered by the 
 traditions of the political relations between England 
 and Ireland : while Swift hated thing-s Whisferish and 
 the Whig party which had ventured to neglect him, 
 and especially disliked the principles that regulated the 
 English rule in Dublin. The policy which Swift desired 
 and the policy which Carteret's position compelled 
 him to carry out were often very widely separated. 
 But Swift alwaj's recognised the necessities under 
 which Carteret acted ; and when they had to differ on 
 political matters, they differed always in the friend- 
 liest manner. Swift summarised their relations by say- 
 ing that in Carteret he hated the viceroy, but loved 
 the man. 
 
 For Swift himself there was of course nothing that 
 Carteret coidd do politically. A rather vague authority 
 asserts that Swift would have been willing to accept 
 some not very leading official appointment in Ireland, as, 
 for instance, trustee of the linen manufacture, or justice 
 of the peace, but that he never could prevail upon 
 Carteret to consent. Carteret's reply always was : ' I 
 am sure, Mr. Dean, you despise those feathers, and 
 would not accept of them.'^ Swift quite understood 
 Carteret's position and the meaning of this polite 
 refusal. The Lord-Lieutenant must appoint to official 
 posts supporters of the official Government. The last 
 person in Ireland likely to support the Irish adminis- 
 tration of a Whig ministry was the Dean of St. Patrick's ; 
 and he frankly told Carteret that he knew that was why 
 
 ' Scott, Life of Swift ; Swift's Works, I. 3G2n. Founded on 
 Siciftiana.
 
 144 LORD CARTEEET 
 
 he was passed over. With equal frankness Carteret 
 rephed : ' What you say is hterally true, and, there- 
 fore, you must excuse me.' This open sincerity 
 always characterised tlieir relations. In January 1728 
 Swift wrote to Carteret : 'As long as you are governor 
 Jiere, I shall always expect the liberty of telling you 
 my thoughts ; and I hope you will consider them, until 
 you find I grow impertinent, or have some bias of my 
 own.' Swift's fairness could not refuse to confess that 
 Carteret had always been willing to listen to him, and 
 that he had done in deference to Swift's views all that 
 his position would allow him to do. Writing to his old 
 friend Gay shortly after Carteret's Lord-Lieutenancy 
 ended. Swift said of Carteret : ' I have told him often 
 that I only hated him as Lieutenant. I confess he had 
 a jjenteeler manner of bindino; the chains of this kini^- 
 dom than most of his predecessors.' Li granting to 
 natives of L'eland such small appointments as he was able 
 to offer them, Swift thought that Carteret acted a more 
 popular part than his successor, tlie Duke of Dorset. 
 But if, on the official side, Carteret could not always do 
 what Swift desired, their private relations were ve]'y 
 close and intimate. Here is Swift writino- to tlie 
 Lord-Lieutenant : ' I told your Excellency that you 
 were to run on my errands ... I, therefore, com- 
 mand your Excellency to,' etc. . . . ' And T desire 
 that I, who have done with Courts, may not be used 
 like a courtier ; for, as I was a courtier when you were 
 a school-boy, I know all your arts. And so, God 
 bless you, and all your family, my old friends ; and 
 remember, I expect you shall not dare to be a cour- 
 tier to me.' Carteret and Swift never played the 
 courtier with each other. Swift, kept waiting once at 
 the Castle, while the prosecution of the Drapiers
 
 LOBD-LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND 145 
 
 Letters was still a question of public policy, wrote 
 down the complaining lines : — 
 
 My very good Lord, 'tis a very hard task 
 
 For a man to wait here, who has nothing to ask. 
 
 Carteret wrote in reply : — 
 
 My very good Dean, there are few who come here 
 But have something to ask, or something to fear. 
 
 Carteret was always able to hold his own with Swift. 
 Conversing with him once on a political action dis- 
 approved by Swift, Carteret replied to Swift's objections 
 with such power that Swift broke out into passionate 
 abuse which conveyed high praise : ' What the vengeance 
 brought you among us ? Get you back — get you back ; 
 pray God Almighty send us our boobies again ! ' On 
 another occasion. Swift, whose estimate of the Irish 
 ])eople was a very contemptuous one, wrote that 
 Carteret ought to be the governor of a wiser nation 
 than Ireland ; for a fool would be the fit manager of 
 fools. Thus the two men always thoroughly under- 
 stood each other, and acted with very characteristic 
 frankness. ' When people ask me,' wrote Carteret to 
 the Dean, ' how I governed Ireland, I say that I pleased 
 Dr. Swift. Qucesitam mentis sume buperbiam.'^ 
 
 1 Carluret to Swift, March 24, 1727. Swift, Works, XIX. 50, 51.
 
 146 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE : HOME AFFAIRS. 
 1730-1737. 
 
 Before noticing Carteret's further connection with 
 Walpole and with Enghsli domestic poHtics, a word is 
 due to the curious history and miraculous disappearance 
 of the Congress which after long struggles had managed 
 to meet at Cambrai. Carteret himself had not been 
 neglectful of European affairs because he had ceased to 
 be Secretary of State. During the seven years of his 
 Lord-Lieutenancy he had frequently visited England. 
 The L'ish Viceroy was expected to reside in Dublin only 
 during the months in which the Irish parliament was 
 sitting ; the rest of the year he usually spent in England. 
 And as the date of the Irish session did not exactlv 
 correspond with the sitting of the English Houses, it 
 was open to a Lord-Lieutenant, who had not had enough 
 of parliamentary proceedings in Dublin, to take active 
 part in the performances at Westminster. Carteret was 
 thus able to take his share in the discussion of the one 
 absorbing topic of the time. Domestic affairs were al- 
 most at a standstill. A languid interest, chiefly of a per- 
 sonal kind, might be taken in the impeachment of a late 
 Lord Chancellor for corruption, or in debating the 
 dangers of Bolingbroke's possible reappearance in 
 England ; otherwise, home politics were duller than the 
 dullest parochial proceedings. But Avith foreign affairs 
 
 f
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—HOME AFFAIBS 147 
 
 it was different. The vivacity on this side was ahnost 
 excessive ; treaties and counter-treaties succeeding one 
 another in bewildering variety ; war always threatening, 
 and once breaking out in what might have been a very 
 serious manner ; while England, as was usual in those 
 times, was inextricably involved in all the shiftings of 
 continental politics. 
 
 At the end of 1723 the Congress of Cambrai was 
 ready to begin business at last, after all its wearisome 
 delays. Early in 1724 it accomplished its formal opening. 
 Never was so utterly futile a Congress. A whole host 
 of diplomatic personages filled the little town, dazzling 
 the eyes of the quiet Flanders people, but doing nothing 
 of any practical value. All their diplomatic discussions 
 and formalities were mere beating of the air ; for it had 
 already become clear enough that in the very highest 
 quarters there was no sincere desire for the success of 
 diplomatic efforts. When diplomacy asked the Emperor 
 Charles if he would definitely give up his fantastic 
 title as King of Spain, if he would once for all settle the 
 eternal dispute about the Italian Duchies, the Emperor 
 would give no satisfactory reply. So the futile Congress 
 dragged on in a very magnificent and useless manner. 
 In its first year at Cambrai, young Voltaire had seen it 
 there, eating, drinking, playing, and had reported its 
 proceedings in those directions to dissolute old goat-faced 
 Dubois, who was Archbishop of the place. As Voltaire 
 had seen it, so it continued ; dragging out the years in 
 shining entertainments and fruitless diplomatic solemni- 
 ties ; until the King and Queen of Spain, and especially 
 the Queen, grew impatient of the futility of so mag- 
 nificent a Congress, and turned to a diflcrent line of 
 action. 
 
 To compensate for the loss of Alberoni, Spain now 
 
 L 2
 
 148 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 liad at the head of affairs another vagabond foreigner, 
 Kipperda, a Dutchman, wlio rose very high indeed for a 
 time, and had astonishinsf adventures in the end. He 
 had been a Protestant, but had not found it too hard to 
 change his rehgion, when the change seemed well worth 
 his while. A man full of projects and speculations, 
 with views very much larger than his abilities ; rash, 
 hot-headed, lond tongued ; very blustering indeed, when 
 he seemingly sat at the head of the universe for the 
 time being. His big, grandiose way of planning and 
 talking had completely gained Elizabeth's attention ; and 
 now when the wearisomely futile Congress had passed 
 through nearly three years of its useless existence, 
 Eipperda suggested to the irritated Queen a political 
 plan of his own. Let tlie Congress continue to 
 demonstrate its unrivalled capacity for doing nothing, 
 was in effect Ripperda's advice ; send me to Vienna ; 
 I will settle terms with the Emperor, and Cambrai may 
 still diplomatise and dine at peace. Elizabeth resolved 
 at least to try ; and near the end of 1724 Eipperda, 
 with full powers from Spain, in secrecy left Madrid. 
 
 The secrecy was maintained at Vienna. Mysterious 
 conferences of carefully disguised negotiators were held 
 at night. Eipperda, well supplied also with persuasive 
 money arguments, was confident of success, and sent 
 cheering reports home to Spain. Yet his efforts might 
 possibly have been useless, and at least would certainly 
 have been prolonged, had not a sudden action on the 
 part of France excited all Spain's eagerness for peace 
 with the Emperor. Tlie little Spanish Infanta, betrothed 
 when a child of four years old to Louis XV., the boy- 
 King of France, was now, at the beginning of 1725, un- 
 ceremoniously sent home again to Spain by the new 
 French Eegent Bourbon, and the match peremptorily 
 
 I
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—HOME AFFAIBS 149 
 
 declined. Philip and Elizabeth flamed out in violent 
 passion. ' All the Bourbons are a race of devils ! ' ex- 
 claimed the fiery Queen to the unfortunate French 
 ambassador, with a hastil}" apologetic ' except your 
 majesty,' to the King, when she remembered that he too 
 was one of that diabolical family. Spain naturally had 
 no further relish for French mediation at Cambrai. 
 That was at once declined ; and when England could 
 not undertake to persuade the Emperor without the co- 
 operation of France, Spain's one remaining hope rested 
 on Eipperda's secret negotiations. He was ordered to 
 agree to terms of peace without delay ; and in this 
 altered state of things a settlement was easily arranged. 
 On April 30, 1725, a Treaty of Vienna was unex- 
 pectedly announced — Austria and Spain suddenly recon- 
 ciled, and the plenipotentiaries at Cambrai left gazing at 
 one another in a state of astonished collapse. 
 
 The excitement among official persons all over 
 Europe at the news of this sudden stroke was unbounded. 
 Kings and statesmen did not know what to make of it. 
 The treaty as it was published seemed innocent enough. 
 Spain guaranteed the Emperor's Pragmatic Sanction, and 
 recognised his rights to the Milanese, Naples, and Sicily. 
 The Emperor on his side surrendered his pretensions to 
 the crown of Spain. But a treaty of this kind was all 
 in fiivour of the Emperor, whose claims on Spain had 
 long been of the merely shadowy kind. Spain would 
 nevei", men argued, have made a peace with Austria if 
 this were all ; and rumours of secret articles immediately 
 spread. Rumour spoke of large engagements under- 
 taken by the Emperor for Don Carlos ; of unbounded 
 subsidies to be paid to Austria by Spain ; above all, of 
 a surprising marriage-scheme by which the two Austrian 
 Arch-duchesses should be wedded to Spanish Elizabeth's
 
 150 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 two sons. Thus Don Carlos, in addition to all else his 
 mother could get for him, would gain Maria Theresa as 
 his wife ; Italy and the Empire would be united ; and if 
 Don Carlos should, as was not impossible, himself become 
 King of Spain, the Empire, Spain, and Italy would be 
 all in the hands of one man, and the European balance 
 in a condition painful to think of. England, too, con- 
 ceived that she had special cause for alarm. It was more 
 or less vaguely asserted that the restoration of the Pre- 
 tender was one of the conditions of this unintelligible 
 treaty ; blustering Eipperda, made more windy than usual 
 by his seemingly admirable success, was not shy of admit- 
 ting it. And Spain's demand for Gibraltar might in such 
 circumstances be a more serious affair than formerly. 
 
 The one thing clear to the King of England was that 
 in some way or other this Treaty of Vienna must be 
 counteracted. George lost no time. The parliamentary 
 session of 1725 being happily over, he left England as 
 usual foi* his summer and autumn abroad, arriving at 
 Hanover at the end of June. There, wliile England, if 
 it thouglit about him at all, thought that he was busy 
 merely with hunting and other not unquestionable 
 amusements, painful diplomacy was again at work, 
 eager to set up an equivalent for the Vienna Treaty, and 
 to render it as harmless as possible. Secretary Towns- 
 hend was with the King, anxious to do his best. The 
 question of Prussia was the real centre of the business. 
 Could England and France persuade Prussia to join them 
 against the designs of Spain and Austria? This was 
 successfully accomphshed. Frederick William himself 
 came to Herrenhausen, to do diplomacy as well as 
 hunting ; and in September a sudden counter-treaty, 
 the Treaty of Hanover, was produced ; England, 
 France, and Prussia agreeing to stand by one another
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—HOME AFFAIRS 151 
 
 and to induce the Protestant powers of the North to join 
 their aUiance. 
 
 Thus Europe was divided into two great parties, and 
 war might come at any moment. The Emperor gained 
 over the Czarina Catherine, widow of Peter the Great ; 
 money poured in to him from Spain ; Eipperda con- 
 tinued to bluster in the noisiest manner ; and Charles 
 felt quite contemptuous of all that his enemies might do. 
 But England also took her measures. Fleets were sent 
 out ; one to the Baltic, to guard against mischief from 
 Eussia ; one to the Spanish coasts, to keep an eye 
 on Gibraltar ; one to the West Indies, to blockade 
 the galleons in Porto-Bello and check the supplies of 
 Spanish gold. All through 1726 this strained condition 
 of affairs lasted without any actual outbreak of war. 
 But in the early weeks of 1727 hostilities really began. 
 In the angry state of feeling between England and Spain, 
 tliere were various pretexts which would do well enough 
 to excuse this last decisive step ; there was always one 
 convenient argument for convenient quarrel in the long- 
 standing question of Gibraltar. Spain, now backed up 
 by the Emperor, renewed her demand for the fortress ; 
 and as England's only answer was flat refusal, Elizabeth 
 resolved to try what force could do. So began in 
 February a siei?e of Gibraltar ; in which siecfe Laurence 
 Sterne's father, the veritable Uncle Toby, was a lieutenant 
 of foot. 
 
 But though the angry Queen of Spain had thrown 
 diplomacy to the winds, England was not rash in de- 
 claring war. Walpole was anxious for a peaceful settle- 
 ment. So was Fleury, now in power in France after 
 the fall of the Duke of Bourbon : — 
 
 Peace is my dear delight — not Fleury 's more.' 
 * Pope's Satires, I,
 
 152 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 And Prussia had fallen away from the Treaty of Han- 
 over ; gained over to the Emperor by the Treaty of 
 Wusterhausen in October 1726. This was a heavy blow 
 to England and her allies ; for Frederick William had 
 a standing army of 60,000 men. But, on the other 
 liand, tlie Emperor soon lost Eussia, for the Czarina 
 Catherine died ; and the Hanoverian allies had already 
 been joined by Holland, Sweden, and Denmark. It 
 began to be clear to the Emperor that there was not 
 much help for him in his alliance with Spain ; that the 
 combination against him was too strong. Negotiations 
 were accordingly opened ; and Charles, seeing nothing 
 but disappointment on all sides, threw Spain over, and 
 came to terms. Prehminaries of peace were signed in 
 May 1727 ; an armistice was to exist for seven years, 
 and all further disputes between the allies of Vienna 
 and the alhes of Hanover were once more to be re- 
 ferred to a general Congress. ' Quick, a Congress ; two, 
 three Congresses ; four, live, six Congresses,' as Beranger 
 sings. 
 
 Thus Spain was left standing quite alone, and there 
 seemed little likelihood that she could long maintain a 
 solitary refusal of reconcilement. Negotiations with 
 Spain did begin, of which George, though nothing 
 positive could be said, informed his parliament in the 
 last speech he ever made to it. Within less tlian a 
 month he w^as dead at Osnabrlick, the home of his 
 Bishop-brother. This interrupted the negotiations. The 
 Spanish ambassador at Vienna ]iad already, in the early 
 part of June, signed preliminaries of peace ; the pre- 
 liminary articles for opening tlie Congress, which had 
 been appointed to meet at Soissons, were brouglit to 
 London on the same day on which the King's death 
 became known there. But tlie death of George raised
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—HOME AFFAIRS 153 
 
 Spanish hopes. Spam hoped that with the accession 
 of George II. there might be a break in the aUiance 
 between England and France, and she also counted on 
 the probability of Jacobite troubles. In spite, there- 
 fore, of the negotiations that had advanced so far, 
 Spain now began to make formal objections, and went 
 on with the Gibraltar siege for about another year. 
 But her hopes of quarrel between France and England 
 were disappointed ; and it proved impossible to take 
 Gibraltar. Ehzabeth at last gave up the useless, single- 
 handed contest, and at the Pardo, a royal palace near 
 Madrid, agreed to accept the peace and join the ap- 
 proaching Congress. 
 
 The Congress duly met at Soissons in June 1728 ; 
 Walpole's brother Horatio, Stanhope (soon to become 
 Lord Harrington), and Stephen Poyntz being the 
 English plenipotentiaries. But in spite of the profuse 
 presence of diplomatists, and the seeming easiness of 
 the work they had to do, the Congress could not 
 manage to accomplish anything. Though the Emperor 
 had come to terms on the points of his disputes with 
 England and France, and though he had settled his 
 quarrel with Spain by admitting Don Carlos' claim to 
 inheritances in Italy, the Congress could really never so 
 much as begin business. For before any other matters 
 should be touched, Charles insisted that his Pragmatic 
 Sanction must be ratified ; and France would not hear 
 of such a thing. Charles would do nothing without his 
 Pragmatic Sanction ; Fleury would do nothing with it. 
 In such circumstances, the Congress did absolutely 
 notliing. It sat on for some eighteen montlis, chiefly 
 engaged in dining ; acting out as great a farce as had 
 been played at Cambrai. Once more the diplomatic 
 futility was ended by a private arrangement. Spain,
 
 154 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 which had been left in isolation at the close of the war, 
 was alarmed lest too close a union should arise between 
 the Emperor and the other powers. Elizabeth accord- 
 ingly required from him an explicit consent to the 
 marriages of tlie Austrian Arch-duchesses with the two 
 Infants of Spain. Charles refused to make any definite 
 statement, and Elizabeth at once turned to private 
 negotiation. The result was announced in November 
 1729, Avhen a new treaty, the Treaty of Seville, was 
 produced ; England, France, Holland, Spain, all now in 
 agreement, while the Emperor was left to look out on 
 Europe alone. The treaty was not made at Soissons at 
 all, but at Seville, where the Spanish Court then was ; 
 Stanhope having left the futile Congress and returned 
 to Spain to complete the business. Absolute peace, 
 said diplomacy with its never-failing humour, should 
 exist between England, France, and Spain ; a pleasant 
 arrangement to which Holland soon afterwards became 
 a fourth party, while Spain was specially gratified by 
 the agreement that the 6,000 neutral troops garrisoning 
 towns in the Italian Duchies for which Don Carlos was 
 waiting, should be changed for Spanish soldiers, to 
 make assurance doubly sure. This was the one thing 
 which brought Spain to agree, for it made Don Carlos 
 seemingly safe at last. The treaty was fairly advan- 
 tageous for England too, for it said not a word about 
 Gibraltar, but tacitly dropped the Spanish claim ; and 
 on tlie commercial side a real peace Avitli Spain was 
 much to be desired. Stanhope was immediately made 
 Earl of Harrington for his share in this business, and 
 Walpole politically felt tlie good effects of it, and was 
 considerably helped in his next session of parliament by 
 its happy accomplishment. 
 
 Thus in his turn the Emperor was left standing alone,
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—HOME AFFAIRS 155 
 
 he and his Pragmatic Sanction in an unhappy condition. 
 He had managed to displease everybody. He had made 
 France and England angry by his secret Treaty of 
 Vienna. He had made Spain angry by not fulfilling that 
 treaty. And now he was made angry himself by the 
 union of France, England, and Spain against him. He 
 was so angry that he prepared for war, declared tliat if 
 Spanish troops ventured to enter Tuscany he would 
 himself drive them out, broke away altogether from his 
 understanding with Spain, and seized Parma on the 
 death of its Duke. But Walpole was anxious that 
 Charles should not be driven to extremities. Very 
 cautiously Walpole was already attempting to gain him 
 over, and was in the midst of a secret negotiation with 
 him, when in January 1731 the English parliament met. 
 Of this private negotiation the opposition, which now 
 reckoned Carteret among its numbers, knew nothing. 
 On the contrary, they naturally supposed that the Eng- 
 lish war preparations were directed solely against the 
 Emperor ; that the force which the royal speech plainly 
 told parliament it might be necessary to use would be 
 employed to compel Charles to accept the Treaty of 
 Seville. Such a line of action opened the way for a 
 European danger which was very real in those days, 
 and against which Carteret was always carefully on 
 guard. Territorial increase of France at the expense of 
 Germany was an ever-present object with French states- 
 men, and in Carteret such a policy liad a determined 
 and unwavering opponent. If in the present instance 
 France, joined by England, should attack the Emperor, 
 the Rhine or the Netherlands, or both, would probably 
 be the important scenes of action ; and any decisive 
 success there would almost infallibly throw part of 
 Germany into the hands of the French. If then there
 
 15G LORD CARTERET 
 
 must be war, urged Carteret, let all necessary measures 
 be taken to save the Netherlands and the Ehine from 
 such a danger ; a motion which, under these polite par- 
 liamentary forms, really meant : Do not, in company 
 with so dangerous and interested an ally as France, 
 make war upon the Emperor at all. Pulteney in the 
 House of Commons supported the same view, and 
 wished that he could reduce to zero and burn publicly 
 in Palace Yard the innumerable treaties and counter- 
 treaties that England and all Europe had with such 
 infinite futility been making ; a desire which the modern 
 reader notes with abundant sympathy, and with sorrow 
 that Pulteney could not do so. Walpole, saying not a 
 word about his secret negotiation, opposed and defeated 
 Carteret and Pulteney ; but, if they had known it, his 
 own wish and policy w^ere in this instance the same as 
 theirs. And in spite of all the gloomy appearances, war 
 was not coming after all. It was true that nothing but 
 delays and excuses had taken the place of the one 
 undertaking wdiich had brought Spain into the peace : 
 the admission of the Spanish garrisons into the Italian 
 Duchies. Instead of compelling the Emperor by force 
 to agree to this, there were, especially on the part of 
 France and Fleury, mere postponements, and words 
 leading to nothing. Spain's angry irritability would 
 have flashed out into war against Charles. But Wal- 
 pole's private neg(jtiation proved happily successful. 
 After the most tedious diplomatic difliculties, he recon- 
 ciled the Emperor with England and Holland ; and one 
 more treaty, hoping to be hnal tliis time, was at last 
 accomplished. This was the second Treaty of Vienna, 
 signed in March 1731 ; a kind of ratification and com- 
 pletion of the Treaty of Seville. The Emperor, gratified 
 by England's guarantee of his Pragmatic Sanction, fully
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALP OLE— HOME AFFAIRS 157 
 
 yielded Spain's Italian requirements. Spain formally 
 accepted this Treaty in July, and before the year was 
 out Spanish troops and Don Carlos himself in person 
 had firm possession of the Duchies. Spain actually had 
 the Duchies ; the Emperor seemingly had his Pragmatic 
 Sanction ; Europe vaguely hoped that she had peace. 
 
 In English domestic politics not very much of real 
 intei-est had happened during the seven years of Carte- 
 ret's Viceroyalty. Steadily and stolidly, during all these 
 years, Walpole had been consolidating his power, and 
 at the same time had been compelling into more or less 
 united action the heterogeneous forces of the opposition 
 which in the end ruined him. Once, for a moment, his 
 downfall had to all observers seemed certain, and even 
 to himself a temporary retirement had appeared in- 
 evitable. From the hot-tempered Prince of Wales, who 
 now so suddenly, after the fatal night at Osnabrtick, 
 had become King George 11. , the chief minister of 
 George I. could expect nothing but disgrace and dis- 
 missal. The new King had been at no pains to conceal 
 his likes and dislikes. In the language of the political 
 gutter, in the lumbering epithetic abuse of a vulgarly 
 spoken age, George easily had a vulgar pre-eminence. 
 When he relieved his feelings in personal criticism of 
 the English ministers, Walpole was a great rogue, a 
 rascal ; Townshend, a choleric blockhead ; Newcastle, an 
 impertinent fool ; Horatio Walpole, a fool, a scoundrel, 
 a dirty buffoon. Walpole did not for a moment deceive 
 himself by fancying that a great rogue and rascal could 
 uninterruptedly continue Prime Minister of England, as 
 if there were no fussily important, apoplectically pas- 
 sionate httle King now on the throne. The minister 
 went to Richmond, to announce to the new sovereign 
 the sudden death of George I. George, roused from
 
 158 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 sleep — lie not only slept, but actually went to bed every 
 afternoon — came hurriedly out, ' his breeches in his 
 hand,' probably in a half-awake, irritable condition ; 
 and having sulkily said to Walpole : ' Go to Chiswick 
 and take your directions from Sir Spencer Compton,' 
 retired, presumably to put the royal breeches on. Wal- 
 pole did as he was ordered. For a very few liours, 
 Compton, a respectable cypher and excessively formal 
 person, seemed destined to find himself in the high 
 places of politics. At Court for a moment Walpole was 
 slighted as a fallen favourite : low bows were lavished 
 on Compton, who took snuff and looked as wdse as 
 possible, while Newcastle was trembling hke an aspen. ^ 
 But Walpole soon found that he had little to fear. 
 Compton's ludicrous incapacity for the leadership was 
 clear from the very beginning ; and if George was a 
 very foolish King, his wife Caroline was one of the 
 wisest and most remarkable of Queens. She knew, 
 and had always recognised, Walpole's political value ; 
 and she was far too politically sagacious to allow per- 
 sonal incompatibilities or the remembrance of objection- 
 able epithets which Walpole, in his usual coarse way, 
 had applied to herself, to stand in the way of the 
 advantageous settlement of public business. The ' wee, 
 wee German lairdie ' of the Jacobite songs firmly be- 
 lieved himself absolute master of every one about him, 
 and especially of his wife. But Caroline, a strangely 
 wise wife for so foolish a husband, in lier prudent 
 and seemingly deferential way managed George as she 
 pleased ; and the first illustration of her carefully veiled 
 influence was the almost immediate re -establishment of 
 Walpole in all his former power. 
 
 Three j^ears later, Walpole still further strengthened 
 
 » Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 18,558; fol. 20.
 
 OPPOSITION TO W ALP OLE -HOME AFFAIBS 159 
 
 his personal position. His jealousy of colleagues who 
 were too able and independent for his purpose had 
 already succeeded in banishing the ablest of them to 
 Dublin, and Walpole's next victim was his owai brother- 
 in-law, Townshend. Townshend, rough, passionate, 
 impatient, but thoroughly honest and well-meaning, 
 would not consent to be a mere government clerk and 
 ministerial lay-figure ; Walpole was determined that he 
 should be nothing else. The firm, said Walpole in 
 city metaphor, should be Walpole and Townshend, 
 not Townshend and Walpole ; but it proved impossible 
 to carry on the business under either designation. 
 Sullen jealousies rose to angry words. Gossiping 
 writers, with a turn for the picturesque in anecdote, 
 dwell almost tragically upon a personal scuffle in a 
 lady's drawing-room, where swords were near flashing 
 out among the patches and the tea-cups ; these pictur- 
 esque details being perhaps mythical mainly. In any 
 case, things had gone too far for further co-operation, 
 especially now that Dorothy Walpole, Towmshend's 
 wife, Walpole's sister, was dead ; and Townshend re- 
 signed. This strengthened Walpole ; for Tow^nshend, 
 fearing lest his own impetuosity might, in opposition, 
 lead him too far and produce results which he himself 
 would regret, very honourably withdrew from political 
 life altogether, and retired to the cidtivation of turnips 
 in Norfolk. 
 
 But that was not the way with all the statesmen 
 whom Walpole's jealous engrossment of power repulsed 
 and alienated. Walpole had himself very much to 
 thank for the fact that, while he was the acknowledged 
 leader of the Whig party, a considerable section of that 
 party was banded together in direct personal, rather 
 than political, opposition to him. This knot of Whigs
 
 160 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 out of place, who called themselves the ' Patriots,' and 
 so distinguished themselves from the Whigs in place 
 who were commonly known as the ' Courtiers,' was 
 constantly increasing in numbers during all the earlier 
 years of George II. 's reign, and Walpole himself gave 
 them their great leader in the House of Commons, the 
 Whig Pulteney. In an indirect way, this had been 
 connected with the dismissal of Carteret. Pulteney, 
 who had always belonged to the Walpole section of 
 the Whigs, had resigned along with Walpole in 1717. 
 When, after the South Sea crash, Walpole and Towns- 
 hend came back to power, Pulteney returned to office 
 w^ith them, but received only an inferior appointment. 
 Three years later, Carteret went to Dublin, and Pul- 
 teney then aspired to the vacant Secretaryship of State. 
 Lord Hervey, always partial to Walpole, and always 
 specially prejudiced against Walpole's two greatest 
 rivals, says that Pulteney suggested this arrangement 
 to Carteret while it was still uncertain whether Carteret 
 himself might not get the upper hand over Townshend 
 and Walpole ; and that Walpole, hearing of this, 
 determined not to forgive it. The simpler reason is 
 probably the true one. Walpole dreaded Pulteney's 
 great abilities, and for that reason refused to appoint 
 him. The Duke of Newcastle, with the maximum of 
 parliamentary patronage and the minimum of ability of 
 any kind except for treachery, was a far more suitable 
 man for Walpole's purpose, and became the new 
 Secretary. Carteret was sent into Ireland, Pulteney 
 was sent into opposition. In the coming years, these 
 two men, Carteret in the Lords, Pulteney in the Com- 
 mons, were the great leaders of opposition to the 
 statesman who had treated them both so badly. 
 
 Opposition, however, beginning with the very
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE- HOME AFFAIRS 161 
 
 beginning of the new reign, was for some few years 
 very feeble and ineflective. The regular opposition of 
 the Tories was not very formidable ; that party was not 
 itself at one; 'downright' Shippen heading its Jacobites, 
 Wyndham leading the so-called Hanoverian Tories ; 
 while Bolinu'broke, whose overtures for restoration to 
 ])arliamentary privileges Walpole had not unreasonably 
 refused, worked and wrote behind the scenes. The 
 spirits of the Patriots, too, were considerably dashed 
 when Walpole, after Sir Spencer Compton's few hours 
 of impotent authority, appeared more hrmly seated in 
 his place than ever ; and though the minister's col- 
 leagues were ridiculously weak, it was not possible to 
 make any impression upon his majority. For two or 
 three years, therefore, practically nothing was done 
 against him ; but in 1730, the year in which Carteret 
 I'eturned from Ireland, the long struggle between 
 Government and Opposition may fairly be said to have 
 begun. 
 
 What line would Carteret himself take ? Early in 
 his Lord -Lieutenancy Carteret had clearly seen that 
 there were only two possible policies open to his choice ; 
 he must side definitely witli Walpole, or go definitely 
 against him. He had, accordingly, through a common 
 friend, endeavoured to come to a clear understanding. 
 He frankly declared his willingness and v/ish to be on 
 terms of sincere friendship with Walpole, and left it to 
 Walpole to decide whether that should be so or not. 
 ' If that friendship can be obtained,' Carteret wrote to 
 liis friend, Eichard (afterwards Lord) Edgecumbe, ' 1 
 shall think myself happy, and be for ever faithful to it ; 
 if not, you will bear me witness that I endeavoured it.' 
 Walpole himself described Carteret's proposal as 'the 
 most ample tender and offer of services that words 
 
 M
 
 162 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 could express ;' and wrote what he himself called a 
 civil, but only general, reply to it. But when Carteret 
 formally pressed the matter, it became necessary for 
 Walpole to speak a little more definitely ; and it is worth 
 while to let Walpole himself, in his own terrible literary 
 style, show how he dealt witli Carteret's proposal. lie 
 wrote to Townshend : — 
 
 ' Upon this, I was of opinion that I should encour- 
 age him to hope for our friendship. ... I now explained 
 that upon condition he would enter cordially and 
 sincerely into the King's measures in conjunction with 
 us at present in tlie administration, and without any 
 reserves, I was ready to agree with liim, and as he 
 knew with whom I was so far engaged as to do nothing 
 but in concert, this must be understood to extend 
 equally to those with whom I was engaged ; and that to 
 render this reconciliation more perfect, I would by tlie 
 first opportunity acquaint your lordship witli it, and 
 did not doubt of your concurrence u])on the same con.- 
 ditions. By this means, my lord, we shall hinder him 
 from entering into any engagements with Roxburgh, 
 Pulteney, etc. ; we shall have the use of him and liis 
 assistance in the House of Lords next winter, where his 
 behaviour may make him so desperate with them that 
 he may have no resource. I say nothing of his sincer- 
 ity, so as to answer for it ; but we know him enough to 
 watch him, and be upon our guard. ... If we keep 
 him and Berkeley. ... I tliink we have all that are 
 worth having of that clan.'^ 
 
 Walpole's literary style is very distressing ; but lie 
 could hardly liave asserted more clearly that lie was 
 willing enough to receive from Carteret all he could 
 
 ' Carteret's letter to Edgecumbe and Walpole's to Townsliend are in 
 Coxes Walpole, II. 488-490. The dates are Sept. and Oct. 17-'o.
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—HOME AFFAIRS 163 
 
 get, and had no intention of giving anything in return. 
 Carteret cannot have mistaken the spirit of Walpole's 
 reply ; and as the years of his Irish government passed 
 on must have more and more clearly seen that any 
 real union was impossible. In December 1727 his 
 friend Schaub wrote from Versailles that the ministers 
 in London were doing all they could to undermine Car- 
 teret's influence at Paris, and to represent him as 
 uninfluential and on the point of falling. Walpole, in 
 short, was determined to get rid of Carteret, and that 
 was made perfectly evident when Carteret returned 
 from Dublin to London. The only attempt to keep 
 him in some slight relation to the Government was tlie 
 offer of a ceremonial position at Court, with a stick of 
 some colour or other attached to it. Carteret immedi- 
 ately declined this ornamental absurdity, which Walpole 
 cannot have supposed he would accept. It was the 
 year of Townshend's resignation ; the year in which 
 Walpole's supremacy became absolute. Carteret was 
 only one political enemy the more, and Walpole felt 
 himself very firm. 
 
 Llie long struggle against Walpole, the great Wal- 
 polean battle as it got to be called, faint at first, but 
 growing strong and stronger year by year, till it became 
 almost dramatic in its intensity, may be said to have 
 begun in earnest in the year of Carteret's return from 
 Ireland. It was not difficult to find many points for 
 plausible and justifiable attacks on Walpole. His policy 
 could not rouse much enthusiasm even among his own 
 supporters. He was content to let things alone ; to 
 touch no abuses which were not too scandalous and 
 importunate ; to give w^ay on all occasions rather than 
 face any parliamentary trouble or risk any parliamentary 
 defeat. Cynical political proceedings of this sort might 
 
 ^i 2
 
 164 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 be well adapted for securing a long hold of office ; but 
 they were terribly uninteresting. Still, so long as seri- 
 ously exciting questions did not arise, it was difficult 
 for the opposition to do very much. It was not, on 
 many occasions, the want of a good cause that ham- 
 pered Carteret and Pulteney, Chesterfield and Argyle ; 
 it was rather the want of much ])olitical interest in the 
 nation at large ; the general rather heavy and diQl 
 satisfciction with a minister who was trusted in money 
 matters, and who kept the nation fairly at peace. If 
 the long period of the struggle is divided into two • 
 parts, the deatli of Queen Caroline in 1737 being taken 
 as the dividing mark, it will be clear that in the first of 
 these periods Walpole was practically master of the 
 situation, and that the performances of the opposition 
 were triflino-. But in the" second a chanoe is manifest 
 at once. The Queen, Walpole's firm friend at Court, 
 was o;one ; lonf][-continued exclusion from office liad 
 heightened the energies of his political adversaries ; 
 and, most important of all, a number of foreign questions 
 were arising for solution on wliicli both Court and 
 nation were opposed to Walpole's views. His authority, 
 therefore, graduallv waned, becominof weaker and 
 weaker with each succeeding session ; till at last the 
 great majority which had so long registered his decrees 
 failed him, and lie fell from the power to which, till 
 the very last moment, he clung with a sort of fanati- 
 cal desperation. 
 
 The first of these two periods, not in many ways 
 very interesting, and not requiring very detailed treat- 
 ment even in a general history of tlie time, may, in a 
 biography of Carteret, be passed over witli comparative 
 lightness. From 1730 to 1733, the parliamentary ses- 
 sions were very quiet. But in 1733 there was a decided
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—HOME AFFAIRS 105 
 
 storm ; and although Carteret had nothmg personally 
 or politically to do with it, it served to produce some 
 curiously absurd criticism of his character by Queen 
 Caroline. Walpole had proposed his celebrated Excise 
 scheme ; a scheme which, in his own words, would have 
 tended to make London a free port, and the market of 
 the world. But there was a general outcry against it. 
 The very name of Excise wns hateful ; and though Wal- 
 ])ole's plan was of tlio most moderate and restricted 
 kind, unscrupulous writers and speakers did not hesitate 
 to nan it by the most falsely exaggerated alarms. It 
 would have merely altered the method of collecting 
 the duties on wine and tobacco ; but it was persistently 
 represented and everywhere spoken of as a scheme for 
 taxing everything, down to the most necessary articles 
 of food and dress. The unscrupulous agitation caused 
 great excitement in the country ; and parliamentary 
 circles eagerly discussed the important question : What 
 will Walpole do ? 
 
 To the interesting companion question : What will 
 the Opposition do ? a partial answer was soon given by 
 a considerable section of the House of Lords. Nothing 
 was so powerful a support to Walpole as the steady 
 favour of the Queen. This Excise incident which had 
 roused such ignorant passion and universal alarm might, 
 thought some of the ])eers, well be used to weaken 
 Walpole's influence in that quarter, and to frighten 
 Carohne by convincing her that the Prime Minister 
 whom she supported was the most unpopular man in 
 the country. This rather amateurish plan was adopted ; 
 and the Earl of Stair (of later Dettingen renown) was 
 chosen to approach the Queen with argument and with 
 oratory. Unwilling to spoil the effect of his harangue 
 by the mildness of his language, Stair asserted that
 
 1G6 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 never was a minister so universally liaied as Walpole, 
 and that liis obstinate insistence on his Excise scheme 
 was endangering^ the crown. Stair became almost tragic 
 in remonstrances ; in a seeming-ly snperfkious wa}' 
 hinted that Englislimen never Avonld be slaves; and, 
 forgetting that he was in tlie Court of George II., 
 solemnly spoke about his conscience. " Ah ! my lord ! ' 
 burst out the Queen, ' ne me pai'lez point de conscience ; 
 vous me faites evanouir' 
 
 Caroline, who had a very sharp tongue, and was 
 quite well aware of that fact, castigated Lord Stair in 
 a very outspoken fashion. She frankly told him that 
 his professions of patriotism only made her laugh ; and 
 she let him understand that she reckoned him merely 
 a puppet in tlie hands of two worthless men of genius. 
 The interesting fact here is that Carteret was one of the 
 two men whom the Queen had in her mind. Lord 
 Bolingbroke was the other ; and Caroline bracketed 
 them together in this ungrammatically vigorous sen- 
 tence : ' My Lord Bolingbroke and my Lord Carteret, 
 whom you may tell, if you think fit, that I have long 
 known to be two as worthless men of parts as any in 
 this country, and whom I have not only been often 
 told are two of the greatest liars and knaves in any 
 country, but wliom my own observation and experience 
 have found so.' ^ From tlie point of view of ungram- 
 matical vigour nothing could be liner ; l)ut as far as 
 Carteret is concerned there is not a Avord of trutli in tliis 
 impetuous accusation. Queen Caroline had no riglit to 
 bracket Carteret and Bolingbroke as working together 
 in ])()litical life ; fur beyond the fact tliat they were 
 both in opposition, they liad no political coimection of 
 
 ' Lftrd TTervpy, Memo'irf^, I. 171, 172 : wlio bad bis account of the inter- 
 view from the Queen herself.
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—HOME AFFAIRS 167 
 
 any kind whatever. The other charge of lying and 
 knavery is witli regard to Carteret simply and supremely 
 ridiculous. Caroline's sharp sayings were never par- 
 ticularly refined ; but noisy bombast of this kind brings 
 her literary style down almost to the level of her tyran- 
 nical little lord's outbursts of passionate and personal 
 abuse. 
 
 There is no evidence that Carteret had any share in 
 this rather weak and quite ineffective attempt to shake 
 the Queen's confidence in Walpole. Carteret spoke out 
 jiis opposition to the minister frankl}^ and uncompro- 
 misingly from his seat in parliament ; but on this sub- 
 ject he had nothing to say, for the Excise Bill never 
 reached tlie House of Lords. So powerful was the 
 opposition in parliament, and so excited the feeling in 
 the country, that though Walpole was firmly convinced 
 of the excellence of his plan, and though tlie King and 
 Queen gave him all the support in their power, the 
 Excise scheme had to be dropped. This was a check 
 which Walpole felt very much. His usual gay indif- 
 ference momentarily forsook him. Yet, after all, he 
 managed, as he always did in such cases, to gain some 
 temporary advantage from what was undeniably a de- 
 feat. He at once dismissed from their official positions 
 those who had either actually op])osedhim on the ques- 
 tion, or had not effectively enough supported him. In 
 this way Chesterfield Avas dismissed. Unfortunately for 
 Walpole personally, such temporary advantages unfail- 
 ingly brought their revenges. Every dismissed official 
 surely found his way into the ranks of the opposition. 
 The jealously imperious minister was left more and 
 more to surround himself with mediocrities only, whose 
 support, satisfactory enough for the moment, could not 
 be any long-lasting strength. Long as Walpole's Govern-
 
 1G8 LOPiD CABTERET 
 
 ment existed after tliis incident, holding hard to office 
 and practically doing nothing else, the beginning of the 
 end may fairly be dated fj-om 1733 and the Excise 
 scheme. The opposition, especially in [lie Ilonse of 
 Lords, where Carteret was already clearly becoming its 
 leader, began to be more definite, vigorous, and im])ort- 
 ant. Walpole himself increased its numbers next year 
 by dismissing the Enrls of Marchmont, Bolton, and Cob- 
 ham, whose conduct had failed to satisfy him. Carteret, 
 Chesteriield, Argyle, Bedford, and Stair were far too 
 strong for a fussily ridiculous Duke of Newcasile and 
 for sucli other official supporters as Walpole could 
 muster in tlie House of Lords, and his position in that 
 House at least was far from satisfactory. 
 
 The years inimediatel}'' following Walpole's Excise 
 defeat, occupied almost exclusively with domestic 
 politics, are chiefly interesting, so far as Carteret is 
 concerned, for their evidence of his decisive pre-emin- 
 ence in opposition. Some observers, with a turn for 
 the small gossip of political accommodations, professed 
 to believe that Carteret was already secretly anxious 
 for a reconciliation with Walpole. Lord Hervey, who 
 might easily have spared himself the trouble, thought 
 it worth while to ask Walpole if there was any truth 
 in these rumours. "Walpole's answer had at least the 
 merit of clearness. ' He asked me,' reports Hervey, 
 ' if I thought liim mad enough ever to trust sucli a 
 fellow as that on any consideration, or on any promises 
 or professions, within the walls of St. James's.' 'I had 
 some difficulty,' added he, ' to get him out ; but he 
 shall find much more to get in again.' ' From Wal- 
 pole's personal point of view, it was decidedly a wise 
 thing to put a strong barrier between Carteret and 
 
 ^ Lord Hervey, Memoirs, I. 4C1, 462,
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—HOME AFFAIRS 169 
 
 Court favour. Carteret, on tlie otlier liand, liad an un- 
 questioned right to further, by all fair methods, his own 
 and his party's political interests. Walpole could not 
 appropriate quite all the political field to himself and 
 to the insiorniiicant officials who were allowed to call 
 themselves his colleagues. That Carteret should desire, 
 after all tliat had passed, to take office in Walpole's 
 Government, was too ridiculous to be believingly as- 
 serted ; but he was a practical statesman of large and 
 seriously considered views, and naturally and neces- 
 sarily desired to be able to give effect to his political 
 opinions. There was none of the hypocritical humility 
 in Carteret which professes, when out of office, to be 
 entirely indifferent to the possession of political power. 
 But just for this very reason, Walpole could not have 
 desired a fairer, more straightforward political adver- 
 sary. The practical certainty that he himself must soon 
 be high in power made opposition in Carteret's case 
 only a little less responsible than government itself. A 
 fair instance of his parliamentary conduct in opposition 
 occurred in tlic session of 1T3G. The Quakers were 
 anxious for relief in a small matter which pressed hard 
 on their conscientious scruples. Walpole was desirous 
 to meet their views ; but the bishops would not liear of 
 it. The bishops had their way, and threw out the 
 small measure of relief. Georo-e and Caroline — tlie 
 Queen was never very orthodox — were both exceed- 
 ingly angry. ' Scoundrels ; black, canting, hypocritical 
 rascals,' George called the bishops in his passionate 
 style ; and hard words fell thick on tliem in parliament 
 and in the country. The Duke of Argyle abused them; 
 Lord Cliief Justice Hardwicke dwelt bitterly on their 
 ricli phirnlities; and Carteret, wliile declaring that 
 every one knew his extreme hostihtv to the existing
 
 170 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 Government, asserted that lie would never join in at- 
 tacking any minister who was ecclesiastically insulted. 
 
 More serious annoyance than the bigoted opposition 
 of the bishops soon interrupted the placid security of 
 the Government. This same year 1736 was one of 
 considerable disturbance throughout the country gener- 
 ally ; but none of the more or less riotous outbreaks 
 attractted such g-eneral attention as the so-called Porteous 
 riots at Edinburg;h. A well-known smufrgler had been 
 arrested and sentenced to death. There was always 
 a lurking feeling of sympathy with oll'ences of the 
 smuggling kind ; and, in this particular case, the rather 
 romantic way in which the imprisoned smuggler had 
 assisted the escape of a fellow-prisoner had quite 
 turned popular sentiment in his favour. To avoid, if 
 possible, a riot and a probable attempted rescue of 
 the prisoner, the Edinburgh Town Guard, under Cap- 
 tain Porteous, was drawn up at the place of execution. 
 The sentence, however, was carried out quietly enough ; 
 but immediately afterwards all was in confusion. The 
 mob was very large ; stones began to fly at Porteous and 
 his Guard, who still stood under arms round about the 
 gallows. ' Fire ! ' said Captain Porteous to his men ; and 
 some half-dozen of the crowd fell. Porteous was at once 
 put upon his trial for this order, and to the fierce de- 
 light of the infuriated people was sentenced to death. 
 
 The case of Porteous seemed, however, somewhat too 
 hard ; and, in response to an influential petition from 
 Scotland, Queen Caroline — for George had already 
 escaped to Hanover — sent down a reprieve. But the 
 Edinburgh mob was in no mood to surrender its victim. 
 It seized the city gates ; broke into the prison ; dragged 
 Porteous to the Grassmarket, and there formally carried 
 out the sentence to its own complete satisfaction, meet-
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—HOME AFFAIRS 171 
 
 ing its own views of legal requirements by punctually 
 paying for the necessary rope. Then it quietly dis- 
 persed. 
 
 Something of tlie sort liad been expected, but no 
 precautions liad been taken. General Moyle, who 
 commanded the King's troops in Scotland, was in the 
 suburbs of Edinburgh ; and late at night, while the 
 riot that preceded the execution of Porteous was still 
 taking its course, Lindsay, Member for Edinburgh, 
 slipped out of the city by a small wicket-gate wdiich 
 was not in the hands of the rioters, and went in search 
 of Moyle. But Moyle would not move, declining to act 
 against the rioters unless ordered to do so b}^ the civil 
 magistrates. So the hours passed by, and absolutely 
 nothing was done. And when, later on, the Edinburgh 
 magistrates undertook a judicial investigation of the 
 affair, it proved impossible to produce condemning 
 evidence that had any legal weight. The Queen was 
 very angry. She was very angry with Moyle, and 
 declared that if the rioters deserved to be hanged he 
 deserved to be shot. She was indignant Avith the 
 magistrates who had done nothing to hinder or to 
 punish the riot, and with the people of Edinburgh 
 generall}', wdiose zeal against Porteous made it impos- 
 sible to procure either prisoners or witnesses. And 
 she felt considerable personal pique that this outbreak 
 against authority had occurred while the government 
 of the country was in her hands. 
 
 Parliament accordingly turned to the matter. Par- 
 liament had been waitino- long i'or the return of the 
 King, whom bad weather was detaining abroad ; but 
 at last could wait ik) longer, and opened itself without 
 him. in the bcffinnino; of Februaiy 1737. The absent 
 King's speech was eloquent iu condemnation of the
 
 172 LOBD CARTEEET 
 
 riotous insults which had been oflered to tlie Govern- 
 ment, and it was impossible to avoid parliamentary- 
 inquiry ; yet tlie question somewhat annoyed and em- 
 barrassed Walpole. He was anxious not to irritate the 
 Scotch, and feared any possible unpleasantness in the 
 proceedings which might ahenate them from his Go- 
 vernment. Ill-natui'ed observers like Lord Hervey, 
 who always go out of their way to find mean, spiteful 
 reasons when plain common-sense ones are staring them 
 in the face, assert that this difficulty of Walpole's was 
 Carteret's chief inducement to take a leading part in 
 the parliamentary investigation. Here was Carteret's 
 chance, says in effect Hervey ; why should he not turn 
 Scotland against Walpole, and make a grand electoral 
 move of it ? Simpler persons, looking without preju- 
 dice, see things differently. The support of the Govern- 
 ment of the country against lawless outbreaks was as 
 important to Carteret, who had been a minister and 
 might at any moment be one again, as it was to Wal- 
 pole himself. Walpole's enthusiastic but inextricably 
 chaotic biographer distinctly states that Carteret's 
 action was a relief to Walpole, and helped him out of 
 his embarrassment. 
 
 In opening the question, Carteret, while severely 
 condemning the lawless doings of the Edinbui-gh mob, 
 declared his own view that the condemnation of 
 Porteous had been illegal, and hoped that the conduct 
 of the magistrates, as well as tlie action of the rioters, 
 would be taken into consideration. All this is now of 
 no consequence or interest to any one ; but there are 
 glimpses of Carteret's personality, and evidence of the 
 reasoned seriousness of his political principles, in the 
 remaining records of this quite temporary episode. 
 'In tlie body politic,' said Carteret in one of his
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—HOME AFFAIRS 173 
 
 speeches, ' as in the body natural, while the cause 
 remains, it is impossible to remove the distemper. . . . 
 I shall never be for sacrificing the hberties of the 
 people, in order to prevent their engaging in any riotous 
 proceedings ; because I am sure it may be done by a 
 much more gentle and less expensive method. A wise 
 and a prudent conduct, and a constant pursuit of 
 upright and just measures, will establish the authority 
 as well as the power of the Government.' Carteret had 
 already explained what he meant by the distinction 
 between authority and power. ' Power and authority 
 we must always look on as two things of a very 
 difierent nature. Power, the legislature may give ; but 
 authority it can give no man. Authority may be 
 acquired by wisdom, by prudence, by good conduct 
 and a virtuous behaviour ; but it can be granted by no 
 King, by no potentate upon earth. A man's power 
 depends upon the post or station he is in ; Init his 
 authority can depend upon nothing but the character 
 he acquires among mankind.' And then in one short 
 decisive sentence he clenched his definition by appl3^ing 
 it to the Government of the day. ' I must observe, and 
 I do it without a design of offending any person, that 
 ever since I came into the world, I never saw an ad- 
 ministration that had, in my opinion, so much power 
 or so little authority.' 
 
 Carteret's proposal that tlie Provost and magistrates 
 of Edinburij-h should be summoned to the bar of the 
 House of Lords was agreed to. On the appointed day, 
 these officials were duly in attendance, and Carteret, 
 to help the House in its management of the business, 
 sketched the lines which the examination should follow. 
 But having doiie so much, he very justly thought that 
 the arrangement of furtlier and decisive action was
 
 174 LOBD CARTEBET 
 
 work for the Government itself. Carteret had done, as 
 he said, his duty so far ; it was now time that respon- 
 sible Government should take its responsible place. 
 Yet no sooner were the ministers thus compelled to act 
 for themselves than the conduct of the adair fell into 
 almost complete confusion. The examination of the 
 magistrates by the House of Lords showed clearly that 
 the Edinburgh people had set their hearts on the death 
 of Porteous, and that the magistrates, though certainly 
 forewarned by common rumour, had taken no precau- 
 tionary measures of any kind. Thus neither of the 
 political parties could deny that punishment was de- 
 served and necessary ; there was only one question in 
 dispute: What shall the punishment be? On this 
 question the contests were frequent and violent. Those 
 of the peers who held more closely to Walpole, and 
 naturally such Scotch peers as the Puke of Argyle 
 and his brother Lord Isla, were opposed to any severe 
 measures. But Newcastle, who was not at present on 
 very good terms witli Walpole, and tlie Lord Chancellor 
 opposed these milder arguments ; and they were joined 
 by Carteret's friend Sherlock, Bishop of Salisbury, who 
 took this opportunity of repaying Argyle for the attacks 
 which he had lately made on the bishops generally. 
 The views of this stronger party seemed likely to pre- 
 vail, and Walpole was induced by the remonstrances of 
 Newcastle and t lie C hancellor to show a little more 
 severity, and especially to agree that tlie chief of the 
 judges at the trial of Porteous should be immediately 
 summoned to London. But here Walpole's friend 
 Hervey, a leading supporter of the more moderate 
 party, struck into the argument. He went to the 
 Queen, with whom he was on the most intimate terms, 
 and urged his views upon her with very considerable
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—HOME AFFAIBS 175 
 
 success. Caroline sent for Newcastle and bullied him. 
 ' What the devil,' she said in her strong way, ' signifies 
 all this bustle about the Scotch judges? Will worrying 
 the Scotch judges be any satisfaction to the King for 
 the insult offered to the Government in the murder of 
 Porteous ? ' Newcastle, who was as timid as he was 
 ridiculous, was terribly frightened by the Queen's 
 attack ; and from that moment the whole affair went 
 forward in a half-hearted fashion. The many debates 
 on the punishment which should be dealt out to Edin- 
 burojh ended in the o-entle resolution that its P]-ovost 
 should be for ever disgraced, and that one of its city 
 gates should be pulled down. And even this mild 
 sentence was in the end made milder still. 
 
 The action taken in rec^ard to the conduct of the 
 judges and the legality of the sentence on Porteous was 
 even more feeble and inconsequent. Carteret moved 
 to declare that the condemnation of Porteous was 
 erroneous, and discussed the question thorouglily from 
 the legal point of view. But practically nothing was 
 done. The Lord Chancellor, in spite of all his warm 
 talk, was now for f;aution and delay. Newcastle, 
 thoroughly frightened, did indeed help Carteret by not 
 speaking in support of him ; but helped in no other 
 way. The thing became almost farcical. The Scotch 
 judges had been got up to London, after debates of 
 ]iassionate excitement. The Lords could not agree what 
 to do with them. Should they be examined at the l)nr, 
 or at the table, or on the wool-sacks? Seat them on 
 tlie wool-sacks, urged one party. Wliat riglit have 
 Scotch judges to sit on Englisli wool-sacks? cried 
 another. To get rid of them altogether, and as soon as 
 possible, remained the only common-sense escape from 
 a situation wliich was l)eroming ridiculous merely; and
 
 176 LORD CARTERET 
 
 a most lame conclusion ended the whole business. 
 Edinburgh was to pay a fine of 2,000/. to Porteous' 
 widow. 
 
 The combined influence of Court and Government 
 had been too strong for Carteret, and he had been coni- 
 jielled to give way. Hervey repeats a conversation 
 which he had with Carteret after Parliament had 
 decided that the Scotch judges should be allowed to go 
 home again. ' You saw,' said Carteret, ' I found how 
 it went, and made my retreat. Whilst Lord Chancellor 
 and the Duke of Newcastle went along with me, I 
 thought I could deal witli you . . . but J found my 
 Lord Isla and you had got the better of him and the 
 Duke of Newcastle at St. James's ; and when I felt how 
 matters stood, I retired too.' ' But,' said Hervey, ' if 
 this was your opinion, how came you not to let your 
 friend Sherlock into the secret ?' — for the bishop had 
 been anxious to detain the judges in London. ' Why did 
 3^ou not tell him tliat half the pack of those hounds on 
 whom you most depended were drawn off, and tlie game 
 escaped and safe, instead of leaving his lordship there 
 to bark and yelp by himself, and make the silly he has 
 done ? ' Carteret's reply was very keen. ' Oh ! he talks 
 like a parson ; and consequently is so used to talk to 
 people that don't mind him, that I left him to find it 
 out at his leisure, and shall fiave liini again for all tliis 
 whenever I want hini."^ 
 
 Only one otlier incident in tliis terribly barren and 
 uninteresting period of English domestic history — it 
 would be liard to fuida more completely barren decade 
 in home politics than tlie period from 1727 to 17o7 — 
 requires some notice as bearing on Carteret's political 
 life. As the King himself had quarrelled with George L, 
 
 ^ Lord Hervey's Memoirs, II. 323, 324.
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—HOME AFFAIRS 111 
 
 so his own son Frederick, Prince of Wales, was on 
 exceedingly bad terms with George II. What the 
 particular cause of disagreement was, whether even 
 there was any one definite cause or not, is not very 
 clear or at all important. Perhaps as much as any- 
 thing else, the unfortunate double-marriage scheme, in 
 the neighbourhood of which Carteret had found himself 
 for a moment, may have been at the bottom of it. 
 George I., the grandfather, had never been very eager 
 for this arrangement, and in the end had quite ceased 
 to favour it ; wliile George II. and Frederick William 
 of Prussia were never on cordial terms. ' My cousin the 
 corporal ' had very limited admiration for ' my cousin 
 the dancing-master.' But the third party, Prince 
 Frederick himself, held very decided views on the 
 question. The marriage with Wilhelmina of Prussia 
 was a thing he was resolved on, and idle rumour soon 
 formed a complete myth about it and him. Rumour 
 was shocked to assert that as all other methods seemed 
 hojjeless Frederick had impetuously decided on a secret 
 match, and that George, hearing of the terrible 
 piece of insubordination, had imperatively ordered the 
 discomfited Prince to show himself in London at once. 
 All of whicli is mythical ; and fact notes only that 
 Frederick came to London in December 1720. Till 
 now the King had very gladly done witliout his son's 
 presence ; had very willingly left liini to his own idle, 
 lounging ways at Hanover. But it was hardly possible 
 to overlook the heir to the crown any longer ; and in 
 obedience to orders, Frederick, aged twenty-two, arrived 
 in England. He was coolly received, and for some 
 two or three years did no particular harm to anybod}^ 
 except himself. He lield aloof from politics ; doing 
 fL'cl)lc perfornjances in the French madrigal department 
 
 N
 
 •^ 
 
 178 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 and mild patronage of literature in a slightly imbecile 
 manner. But he gradually, also in an imbecile manner, 
 turned towards political affairs and especially towards 
 the opposition party in politics ; gathered its leading 
 men about him, and thought to find his own advantage 
 out of them. Men whose reputation was akeady made, 
 Carteret, Pulteney, Chesterfield ; younger men whose 
 reputation was still to come, Pitt, Lyttelton, the Gren- 
 villes, the ' boy patriots,' as Walpole called them, the 
 ' Cobham cousins,' as others nicknamed them, were more 
 or less closely mixed up with the foolish Prince. They 
 were the most brilliant set of public men in London, 
 and were backed up by the leading men of letters, by 
 Carteret's friend Swift, Pope, Thomson, Gay, Arbuthnot ; 
 all disregarded by Walpole, who thought that any Grub- 
 street scribbler would do as well. These opposition 
 leaders all despised the Prince ; they could not do 
 otherwise ; but they accepted what aid he could give 
 them, and the countenance they showed him filled the 
 King and Queen with vexation and anger. When 
 Caroline occasionally indulges in venomous abuse of 
 Carteret and other opposition statesmen, it is well to 
 remember that the Queen had a personal reason for 
 refrardino; them with bitter ill-will. 
 
 In these circumstances, the original estrangement 
 of the Prince from his parents went on widening in 
 a rather rapid way. Further causes of dispute arose 
 from time to time. Frederick quarrelled with his sister 
 because she ventured to be married before him. He 
 set himself at the head of the Lincoln's Lm Fields' 
 opera because the rest of the royal family patronised 
 the Haymarket and Handel. His conduct was so gener- 
 ally foolish that for some considerable time the King 
 and Queen could afford to treat him with contemptuous
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALP0LE—H02IE AFFAIRS lid 
 
 indifference. But at last, in 1734, he took a decisive 
 step. He requested an audience with tlie King, and 
 Walpole with some difficulty persuaded George to grant 
 it. When admitted, the Prince made three dehnite re- 
 quests. He was in debt ; he asked an increased and 
 regularly paid income. He had been disappointed of 
 Wilhelmina ; he wished that some other suitable match 
 should be arranged for him. And he had nothing par- 
 ticular to do : he wished to go to the w^ars. To the 
 first and last of these demands George had nothing 
 wliatever to say ; Ijut he agreed that the marriage was a 
 point Avhicli should be settled. This one cause of the 
 Prince's discontent was soon removed. In 1735, at 
 Hanover, the King's choice fell upon the young Princess 
 Augusta of Saxe-Gotha ; Frederick, with good enough 
 grace, assented ; and early in 1736 the marriage took 
 place. 
 
 But, as things turned out, this settlement proved 
 only the starting-point of a more embittered contro- 
 versy than ever. The conduct of the opposition on the 
 occasion of the marriage was very displeasing to the 
 Kinoj : for their cono-ratulations to the son were so turned. 
 as to be tolerably plain reflections on the father. Pitt 
 made his maiden speech on this affair, and at the end 
 of the session Walpole dismissed him from his cornetcy 
 for it. But far more annoying to George was the action 
 of the Prince himself. Frederick's not very large allow- 
 ance of 24,000/. a year had been, on his marriage, in- 
 creased by his father to 50,000/. In Frederick's view, 
 this was merely robbing him. George himself, when 
 Prince of Wales, had had 100,000/. a year ; parhament, 
 wlien it settled the Civil List on the King at his acces- 
 sion, had meant that Frederick should have the same ; 
 to give him an income of 50,000/. was therefore, 
 
 N 2
 
 180 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 Frederick argued, really nothing else than to rob him 
 of half his due. But it was useless to attempt to 
 move George. The King would not yield, and the 
 Prince of Wales, insisting that common justice was 
 denied him, at last resolved to lay his grievances before 
 parliament. 
 
 The Queen would not for some time believe that 
 Frederick's resolution was really taken, and through all 
 the stages of the question she showed great concern and 
 anxiety. Her language about the Prince was terribly 
 strong, while Princess Caroline called her brother a 
 ' nauseous beast,' and, like her mother, fervently longed 
 for his death. The King on no occasion minced his 
 words, but he took this particular aflair with a good 
 deal more coolness than might have been expected. 
 The Prince himself was all expectant of the result ; 
 Lord Chesterfield and some of the younger discontented 
 Whigs inciting and encouraging him. Political quid- 
 nuncs devoted themselves to busy speculation on the 
 number of his probable majority, and Walpole began 
 to feel some Httle alarm. But Carteret disapproved of 
 the Prince's action ; so also did Pulteney. The Prince's 
 success would weaken the influence of the royal family ; 
 it would be a blow to the Whig party, the chief sup- 
 porters of tlie House of Hanover. Frederick, however, 
 was resolved to go on ; private arguments brought to 
 bear upon him were decisively rejected. The day for the 
 parliamentary discussion was fixed, and Walpole, now 
 fairly frightened by the possible dangers of the position, 
 as a last resource attempted to secure a compromise. 
 He urged the King to send a message to the Prince, 
 promising that a yearly sum should be settled on the 
 Princess of Wales, and that Frederick's own income, 
 which he received simply at the King's pleasure, should
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—HOME AFFAIBS lyl 
 
 be formally settled ou liiiu. The message was sent, 
 but King and Queen were both exceedingly enraged 
 at its reception. Frederick's reply, quite respectful, 
 but perfectly decisive, simply stated that the whole 
 affair had now passed from his hands, and that he 
 could not receive any proposition in regard to it. 
 
 The two opposition statesmen who blamed Frederick 
 for forcing this discussion on parliament were the two 
 who, as leaders, found themselves compelled to intro- 
 duce the subject early in 1737. Pulteney in the Com- 
 mons, and, on the following day, Carteret in the Lords, 
 urged that Frederick should be treated as his father 
 had been before him, chiefly supporting their contention 
 by arguments of historical precedent. Walpole, to the 
 extreme delight of the Court, managed to defeat Pul- 
 teney by a fair, if not very large, majority ; a victory 
 gained by the abstention of a considerable number of 
 Tories. Carteret's speech was, on the express evidence 
 of Ilervey, a cold performance ; it is probable that, 
 after the defeat in the Commons, Carteret renewed his 
 objections to touch this question in the Lords, but was 
 overruled. It is certain that Carteret despised the 
 Prince ; certain also that he had no wish needlessly 
 and uselessly to offend the Court. But the resolution 
 to press the thing had been taken, and Carteret, with 
 hardly concealed dishke, had to comply. The victory 
 of the Court party in the Upper House was of course 
 easy. 
 
 The whole course of this miserable affair had rather 
 ^veakened Walpole with the King and Queen. It was 
 Walpole who had advised the message to the Prince ; 
 and the message had been a complete failure. A 
 victory had indeed been Avon in the House of Commons, 
 but could not, in the circumstances, be much boasted
 
 182 LORD CARTEBET 
 
 of. The Queen, too, was entering into communications 
 with Carteret, and hstening to his advice and argu- 
 ments. This filled Walpole with alarm at once ; and in 
 his dogged, common-sense fashion he spoke very plainly 
 to Caroline about it, introducing Carteret at the very 
 outset of his expostulations. The Queen told Walpole 
 tliat Carteret had given her explanations of his conduct ; 
 that he had been driven against his will to support the 
 Prince of Wales. ' He says,' continued the Queen, ' that 
 he found you were too well established in my favour 
 for him to hope to supplant you ; and, upon finding he 
 could not be first, that he had mortified his pride so far 
 as to take the resolution of submitting to be second ; 
 but if you would not permit him even to serve under 
 you, who is there that could blame him if he continued 
 to fight against you ? ' Which seems a reasonable 
 question. But Walpole had the inevitable answer 
 ]'eady : in no circumstances could he and Carteret 
 continue to work together. The Prime Minister plainly 
 told the Queen that she must choose between them. " ' I 
 know, Madam,' continued Sir Robert, 'how indecent it 
 is generally for a minister and servant of the Crown to 
 talk in tliis style, and to say there is anybody with 
 Avhom he will not serve. I therefore ask your pardon ; 
 but I thought I should be still more in the wrong if 
 I suffered your Majesty to make any agreement with 
 Carteret, and afterwards quitted your service on that 
 event without having previously told you I would do 
 so.' " ^ The same unwavering resolve that in no case 
 would he accept Carteret as a colleague was about 
 tliis same date announced by Walpole to Newcastle 
 also. Carteret and Newcastle had both been West- 
 minster boys, and returned together one night from a 
 
 ' Lord Ilervey's Memoirs, II. 294-29G.
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—HOME AFFAIBS 183 
 
 Westminster School dinner. Newcastle, who, says 
 Hervey, was half-intoxicated, went that same night to 
 Walpole's, and, probably in a state of maudlin imbe- 
 cility, offered himself as surety for Carteret's good be- 
 haviour, if only Walpole would accept him. Walpole's 
 brother, Horatio, and Newcastle's brother, Henry Pelham, 
 alone were present. There was no ambiguity about 
 Walpole's reply. ' I am glad, my lord, you have given 
 me this opportunity once for all to let you know my 
 determined sentiments on this matter. . . . Your Grace 
 must take your choice between me and him ; and if 
 you are angry at my saying this, I care not ; I have said 
 it to your betters, and I'll stick to it.' ^ 
 
 To Walpole's asseverations and arguments the Queen 
 replied with assurances of her confidence ; and, the 
 parliamentary session of 1737 being now over, the 
 Premier left London for his usual hunting? and riotous 
 joviality at Houghton. He was hardly back again when 
 he was renewing his complaints at the Court, and tor- 
 tured by his anxious jealousy of Carteret. He thought 
 that Mrs. Clayton — better known as Lady Sundon, one 
 of Voltaire's friends during his English sojourn — was 
 uro;in<T Carteret's claims on the Queen, and in lano;nao:e 
 of his habitual brutality called her a ' damned invete- 
 rate bitch ' for her pains. Caroline herself told Walpole 
 that Carteret was writing the history of his own times ; 
 and vague rumours spread of mysterious meetings be- 
 tween Carteret and Lady Sundon, ' on the Queen's gravel 
 walk in St. James's Park,' where tlie conversation turned 
 on this literary performance ; and where, if Lady 
 Sundon and Hervey are to be literally trusted, this one 
 definite sentence was spoken by Carteret : 'Madam, if 
 you dare own at Court you talk to so obnoxious a man 
 
 1 Lord Hervey 's Memoirs, II. 3.34, 335.
 
 184 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 as I am, you may tell the Queen I have been giving her 
 fame this morning ; ' a remark which, in that precise 
 form, it is tolerably safe to say was never made by 
 Carteret, Caroline once exchauijed a few words with 
 Hervey on this history of Carteret's, when the irascible 
 little King — who did not yet know how valuable Carteret 
 was to be to him — broke out : ' Yes, I dare say he will 
 paint you in fine colours, that dirty liar ! ' ' Why not? 
 said the Queen. ' Good things come out of dirt some- 
 times ; I liave eat very good asparagus raised out of 
 dung.' What a charming Court ! ^ 
 
 George's passionate outbursts against a statesman 
 of whom, so far, he knew only this, that he was in 
 opposition, are, of course, of no real significance. 
 Caroline, though her language lost little of its coarse 
 vigour, was distinctly inclining towards Carteret. But 
 it was just at this period that the quarrel in the royal 
 family took an exceedingly aggravated turn ; and this 
 aggravation brings with it distinct proof that the King 
 and Queen judged and spoke of Carteret not as a states- 
 man — they had practically had no experience of him in 
 office — but entirely from a personal point of view. He 
 was more or less mixed up in a bitter family quarrel. 
 It was little to his taste to be concerned in it at all ; and 
 some few years later, when he was himself practically 
 Prime Minister, he was doubtless thinking of the vexa- 
 tion caused to every one who had anything to do with 
 this miserable squabble, when lie wrote to one of the 
 English ambassadors abroad: 'Tlie family affairs of 
 Princes are of such delicac}", that ministers in their wits 
 will never interfere if they can possibly lielp it.' ^ It was, 
 
 ' At this period, Carteret, Chesterfield, and Boliugbroke were all as- 
 sumed to be writing Memoirs of their time. Nothing is known of ('arteret's 
 work. 
 
 ^ Add. MS.S. i^2,5;U; fol.-jo.
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE-HOME AFFAIRS 185 
 
 liowever, impossible for Carteret as a political leader to 
 stand entirely apart from the dispute ; and nothing is 
 clearer than the fact that the language used by the King 
 and Queen about him depended entirely on the fluctua- 
 tions of this domestic quarrel, and on nothing else what- 
 ever. If Carteret was thought to be encouraging the 
 Prince in what his parents regarded as outrageous 
 behaviour, then at Court endless variations were played 
 on the one theme — ' liar.' But when it was rumoured 
 that Carteret disapproved of Frederick's conduct, the 
 lancruaoje of the Court veered round ; the ' liar ' was 
 followed by an explanatory mitigating 'but.' In this 
 way the temporary personal judgments of a very clever 
 woman and a very foolish man found adequate expres- 
 sion ; but the language, either of praise or blame, is 
 from no other point of view of even the slightest im- 
 portance. 
 
 A vague sort of reconciliation had been brought 
 about in the royal family at the close of the quarrel- 
 some session of 1737 ; and in the summer recess King, 
 Queen, Prince, and Princess were all staying together at 
 Hampton Court. This idyllic state of things did not 
 last. Very suddenly, without a syllable of information 
 to the King or Queen, the Prince hurried his wife away 
 to St. James's Palace, in order that her child miixht not 
 be born in the house where his parents were. Feeble 
 excuses were made by the Prince in attempted justifi- 
 cation of his conduct, but there was practically no 
 defence. The anger which George and Caroline had 
 previously felt against tlieir son was trifling compared 
 with the passion which now consumed them. Caroline, 
 indeed, in common decency could do no less than visit 
 lier daughter-in-law on this interesting occasion ; no one 
 had any fault to find witli tlie Princess, who simply had
 
 180 LORD CAETEBET 
 
 to do what her husband told her. But after that one 
 visit, all intercourse with the Prince was instantly 
 broken off. The King and Queen sent him a message, 
 expressing their extreme anger, and bluntly declining 
 to see him. It was all that Walpole could do to pre- 
 vent them from declaring open war against him. George 
 refused to allow Frederick to remain in his house, and 
 sent him a peremptory order to quit St. James's. ' Thank 
 God, to-morrow night the puppy will be out of my house,' 
 the King exclaimed after despatching this order ; and 
 Caroline over and over again repeated, 'I hope in God I 
 shall never see him again.' His guard was taken from 
 him; foreign ministers were requested not to visit liim ; 
 and exclusion from the King's Court was the inevitable 
 penalty for attendance at the Prince's. 
 
 On Frederick's arrival at St. James's with his wife, 
 he had summoned Carteret, Pulteney, and Chesterfield 
 to meet him. They all not only privately disapproved 
 of his conduct, but plainly told him so. Instantly the 
 King and Queen began to speak well of Carteret. He 
 might be a great knave, said Caroline, but she Avould 
 not believe that he had had anything to do witJi her 
 son's conduct on this occasion. The King said to Wal- 
 pole : ' I know Carteret disapproves this whole afiair.' 
 Such royal sentiments were too dangerous ; and Walpole 
 at once proceeded to check them. He was far more 
 afraid of Carteret at Court than in the House of Lords, 
 and thought him the most likely person to supplant him 
 in the favour of the King and Queen, who both, on the 
 express evidence of Si)eaker Onslow, disliked Carteret 
 less than any other member of the opposition. ^ Wal- 
 pole therefore went again to Court and attacked Carte- 
 ret. Carteret was a very lucky man, insinuated Walpole, 
 
 ' Onslow's Remarks ; in Coxe, Walpole, 11. 569.
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—HOME AFFAIRS 187 
 
 to be liio;li in favour in the two hostile Courts. Carteret 
 asserted that his visits to the Prince were only formal ; 
 and indeed, while the royal quarrel was at its very 
 height he had been at liis own seat in Bedfordshire ; 
 but Walpole dwelt so alarmingly on the subject to the 
 King and Queen that these exceedingly fickle royal per- 
 sonages once more changed their tone. The old ' liar ' 
 theme was once again produced ; the Princess Caroline 
 on this occasion performing a remarkable variation. If 
 the Queen were actually to meet Carteret at the Prince's 
 house, said this vivacious performer, Carteret was 
 capable of endeavouring to persuade lier that the devil 
 liad put on his figure, seidement pour lui reiidre un 
 mauvais office aupres d 'elle. The Princess's conceptions 
 of Carteret's persuasive powers, and of the devil's un- 
 deniable interest in the personalities of party politics, 
 are wanting in moderation ; but there are excuses for 
 the erratic vivacity of a j'oung girl. For Sir Eobert 
 Walpole there is no excuse. He did not disdain in liis 
 jealous dread of Carteret to injure his rival b}" direct 
 falsehood and deception. It is his own devoted follower 
 and Carteret's opponent who tells the tale. Tlie Prince 
 of Wales, at liis house in Pall Mall, received the con- 
 gratulations of the London Corporation on the birth of 
 his daughter. Printed copies of the King's message to 
 t]ie Prince were distributed on this occasion ; and moving 
 comments relieved the feelings of those present on the 
 conduct of a father who had turned his son and liis 
 daugliter-in-law out of liis house. Tlie proceedings at 
 tliis meeting were reported by Walpole to the King and 
 Queen, and he informed them that it was Carteret who 
 liad had the message printed for tliis occasion. The 
 King and Queen doubtless took Walpole's word ; but 
 })osterity knows better. More tlian a week before,
 
 188 LOBD CAETERET 
 
 Walpole himself had informed Hervey tliat lie designed 
 to let the message slip into print as if by accident. 
 Hervey adds his own mild comment : ' I am apt to 
 imagine that he put that npon Lord Carteret which 
 was entirely his own doing.' ^ 
 
 Walpole might well have avoided such despicable 
 trickery as this, and on this particular occasion it does 
 not seem to have done Carteret very much harm. The 
 Court was once more veering round, and definitely in- 
 clining towards belief in Carteret and conviction that 
 he was no real adherent of the Prince of Wales. He 
 never had been ; he despised him while he used him. 
 Frederick, who was a very imbecile creature, no doubt 
 thought that Carteret and Pulteney were his very 
 obedient servants, and that he could do with them 
 as he chose. ' He had a notion,' says Lord Shelburne, 
 ' that he could get round anybody by talking nonsense 
 to them, and after playing a dirty trick, or being caught 
 in some infamous lie by such a man as Lord Granville 
 [Carteret], he would take them into a corner, and say 
 he had " 7'accomode " all that.' ^ Such a man as Carteret 
 thought otherwise. ' What the devil else can you think 
 I ever went to the Prince for ? ' asked Carteret, when 
 Lyttelton reproached him for using Frederick and fling- 
 ing him away. Caroline at length began definitely to 
 see that this was the real state of the case ; and Wal- 
 pole found her language once more tending towards 
 j ustification of Carteret's action. As Prime Minister, 
 Walpole's opportunities for expostulation and argument 
 were unlimited. He knew the Queen's heart was set on 
 getting the better of her son. The question, therefore, 
 
 ' Hervey, Memoirs, II. 4G2. 
 
 " SbelLuiue's AutuhivyrapJnj; in Lord E. Filziuaurice's Shelburne, I. 
 G2, 6a.
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—HOME AFFAIRS 189 
 
 which it was Walpole's interest to press upon the Queen, 
 narrowed itself down to this : Which of the two men, 
 Walpole or Carteret, did she think could better help 
 lier to defeat the Prince ? .' Is your son to be bought ? 
 Walpole asked the Queen. ' If you will buy him, I will 
 get him cheaper than Carteret. And yet, after all I 
 have said, if your majesty thinks he can serve you 
 better than me [.s-zc] in this contest with the Prince, I 
 own it is of such consequence to you to conquer in this 
 strife, that I advise you to discard me and take Carteret 
 to-morrow.' 
 
 Fortunately, the royal quarrel need not be followed 
 any further. Its crowning bitterness had been in 
 August and September 1737 ; before the year was 
 over Queen Caroline was dead. On her death-bed she 
 recommended her husband to Walpole's care ; and even 
 if she had lived, no change in the Government was likely 
 to have taken place. She had received Walpole's 
 arojuments ag-ainst Carteret with what the minister 
 himself called a flood of professions of favour ; and 
 while Walpole remained in the Government there was 
 no chance of admission for Carteret in any capacity 
 whatever. ' I am a rock^' said Walpole at this time to 
 two or three of his political friends ; ' I am determined 
 in no shape will I ever act with that man.'
 
 1!J0 LORD CARTE BET 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE : FOREIGX AFFAIRS. 
 
 1733-1742. 
 
 So far, oil the side of domestic politics at least, the 
 opposition could hardly be said to have liad much 
 practical effect. Walpole was sitting even more firmly 
 in power in 1737 than in 1730. But side by side with 
 these debates on the Excise, on Porteous, on the Prince 
 (if Wales, the political affairs of Europe had repeatedly 
 called for discussion ; and it was precisely in this year 
 1737 that foreign complications began to threaten very 
 serious disturbances. This, too, was always the ground 
 on which Walpole was most open to attack. His foreign 
 policy had not only to defend itself against the parlia- 
 mentary assaults of the opposition, but it was, on personal 
 and political grounds, distinctly repugnant to the King 
 himself. Even Caroline warmly objected to the peace 
 policy of her favoured minister. When one looks back, 
 at the safe distance of a century and a half, on the first 
 ten years of the reign of George XL, it is undeniable that 
 Walpole's dogged determination to keep England out of 
 Polish election wars and the unending confusions and 
 complications of the Empire was absolutely right. But 
 in 1737 a question was arising with regard to which it 
 is quite possible to believe that Walpole's view was 
 wrong. In any case, the feeling of the nation was with
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—FOBEIGN AFFAIBS V.Jl 
 
 the opposition on tins point ; and Walpole's action 
 regarding it was the prehide to his fall. 
 
 The second Treaty of Vienna, which had more or 
 less satisfied Spain about its Duchies and the Emperor 
 about his Pragmatic Sanction, was not allowed to keep 
 Europe at peace for very long. Soon after the begin- 
 ning of 1733, August, King of Poland and Elector of 
 Saxony, died : August the Strong, who, deposed by 
 Charles the Twelfth, had in turn managed to depose his 
 rival, and had been King of Poland ever since. His 
 death was the signal for a continental quarrel which 
 involved Europe from Spain to Eussia. The sole ques- 
 tion at issue : Who shall be the new King of Poland ? 
 might have seemed simple enough; but it really meant 
 a war in which all the leading powers of the Continent 
 took part; and to keep even England out of it was a 
 very hardly won triumph for Walpole. 
 
 Stanislaus Leczinski, ex-King of Poland,whom Charles 
 XII. had set up in 1704, and August the Strong had 
 in turn deposed in 1709, had, after visiting Charles at 
 Bender, been living quietly and comfortably on the 
 borders of France, where his daughter, married to Louis 
 XV., was now Queen. It would be suitable to the dig- 
 nity of Prance that its Queen's father, who had once 
 been King of Poland, should be so again ; and his candi- 
 dature was naturally supported by Eleury. On the 
 other hand, the Empire and Eussia favoured Frederick 
 Augustus, son of August the Strong ; for Eussia feared 
 that if Stanislaus were once again on his old throne 
 he might help Sweden to recover what she had lost to 
 Eussia ; and the Emperor, otherwise disinclined to the 
 presence of a powerful French influence so near his own 
 doors, had still his inevitable Pragmatic Sanction to 
 secure in every European change. He was anxious to
 
 192 LOBD CABTEEET 
 
 get a King of Poland who would guarantee that ; 
 and young August, eager for the Emperor's help in an 
 election which otlierwise would probably be unsuccess- 
 ful for him, had already thoroughly promised to do so. 
 But the first steps taken were in favour of Stanislaus 
 and France. The kingship of Poland was elective, 
 and the question therefore necessarily involved bribery ; 
 the Polish Primate, into whose hands durino; an inter- 
 regnum sovereign rights fell, had already been secured 
 to the French view in the usual way. By his advice 
 the Polish electors swore to choose no foreigner for 
 their King ; Augustus, a Saxon, thus seemed to be effec- 
 tively excluded. But hereupon the Emperor and the 
 Czarina struck in with their armies, and from their two 
 respective sides, the Czarina from Lithuania, the Emperor 
 from Silesia, prepared to march on Poland. France 
 instantly delivered a counter-stroke, sending 60,000 men 
 under Marshal Berwick to the Rhine, ready to cross 
 over and fall upon the Emperor if he should venture to 
 interfere against the French candidate. Yet Fleury did 
 not wish war ; and most certainly Charles, poor in men 
 and in money, in an almost defenceless condition, neither 
 wished nor was ready for it. He was so eager to avoid 
 any attack from France that he hoped to leave Berwick 
 without any excuse for falling upon him ; and, counter- 
 manding the order to his troops, he stopped their march 
 towards Poland. This first French success was soon 
 followed by another. The actual election began in 
 Poland in August 1733, and according to law must be 
 completed within six weeks. Dressed in disguise as a 
 merchant, Stanislaus arrived at Warsaw, and before the 
 middle of September was actually chosen King there. 
 The success of France seemed complete. 
 
 But tliis was by no means the end of the thing. 
 Though the Emperor had countermanded the advance
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—FOBEIGN AFFAIRS 193 
 
 of his troops, the Eussians had marched on and were 
 joined by the Pohsh party in opposition to Stanislaus. 
 After exactly ten days of kingship, Stanislaus found 
 himself obliged to flee from Warsaw. Another election 
 was held, the Russian soldiersi being now actually in the 
 Warsaw suburbs ; and just a single day within the legal 
 time the crown, by the vote of a handful, was given to 
 Augustus. 
 
 France was indignant at the insult to its Queen's 
 father, and immediately declared war on the Emperor. 
 It was useless for Charles to assert that he had taken 
 no active steps against Stanislaus ; that he had marched 
 no troops into Poland. The presence of his army on 
 the frontier was essentially the same thing, argued 
 France ; and a\ itliout further waste of time seized Lor- 
 raine and crossed the Rhine into Germany. On the 
 Italian side also France was prepared ; had gained over 
 Spain by large ])romises for Don Carlos in Italy ; and 
 had secured the King of Sardinia by holding out to him 
 too a share of the spoil. All thus being in order here, 
 Marshal Yillars passed the Alps ; and the Emperor, 
 unready everywhere, was on all sides beaten upon 
 and almost reduced to despair. Before the year was out 
 Villars and the King of Sardinia, on the one side, had 
 already got Lombardy and the Milanese ; and on the 
 other, Lorraine was lost, and Berwick was preparing 
 for the siege of Pliilipsburg, to gain himself a bridge 
 across the Rhine, and by it penetrate well into Germany 
 next season. 
 
 When, therefore, the English parliament met in 
 January 1734, the Emperor's aflairs were in a very bad 
 way. The royal s])cech could make the satisfactory 
 announcement that England was standing entirely apai't 
 from the war ; but how long this happy isolation might 
 

 
 191 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 last was altogether problematical. Every hour the 
 Emperor's condition was becoming worse and worse. 
 A trifling accident might at any moment embroil 
 England and Spain, and then the Gibraltar question 
 would once more demand painful attention. The future 
 was full of possible risks and dangers ; yet the Govern- 
 ment did nothing more than slightly increase the forces. 
 It was not till the very short parliamentary session was 
 about to close that a royal message was sent down asking 
 for a vote of confidence. Let the King, said this message, 
 have power during the recess to increase the forces if 
 necessary, and let parliament promise to make good 
 any action which the existing state of affairs might in- 
 duce the King to take. The proposal caused very warm 
 debates. It was not a vote of confidence at all, said 
 those who opposed it ; it was a vote of credit, unconstitu- 
 tional, a danger to the liberties of the nation, making par- 
 liament a farce. Government, on the other side, argued 
 that in the circumstances it was essential. Money and 
 men had not been asked for at the beginning of the 
 session, when tlie utter breakdown of the Emperor could 
 not have been foreseen ; but now this misfortune had 
 actually happened, and the King and Cabinet must have 
 increased powers. Carteret, on constitutional grounds, 
 took the lead in opposing this message. It was not 
 factious opposition ; Carteret by no means found 
 fault witli the policy of vigorous defence. His only 
 objection on this side was that measures for the 
 national security had not been taken long before. 
 But now that the Government were at lengtli doing 
 something, why, asked Carteret, were they dohig it in 
 this unconstitutional way ? Why were practically un- 
 limited powers to be granted to the King, and why was 
 parliament to bind itself beforehand to approval of liis
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—FOBEIGN AFFAIES 195 
 
 action, whatever it might be ? Do the thing in a strictly 
 constitutional way, was Carteret's point, or leave it 
 alone altoo-ether. Then, if dnring; the recess imminent 
 danger should arise, the King had power at once to 
 increase his forces and borrow money, and parliament 
 should immediately be assembled. 
 
 After long debates, the Government had its way 
 easily enough. But it does not seem that Walpole 
 was personally very eager in the matter. He wished 
 more to humour and quiet the King than anything else. 
 For the unfortunate condition of the Emperor alarmed 
 George. He was anxious to give the help which for a 
 long time back the Emperor had been eagerly demanding ; 
 the money to fight the French, which was due to him 
 by the last Treaty of Vienna, If George could have had 
 his own way, Charles would have had no occasion to 
 complain. The King of England was completely Ger- 
 man; here was the Emperor, his official head, reduced to 
 a desperate condition by the House of Bourbon. And 
 George was fond of war, in heart a soldier ; he seems 
 to have held the curious conviction that he possessed 
 really unusual military genius. In a pleasantly meta- 
 phorical style during these early months of 1734, the 
 small martial King daily rhapsodised to Walpole on the 
 laurels of war, and their extreme suitability to his own 
 person. Walpole, entering the royal presence fidl of 
 business and papers, with a multitude of claims to 
 satisfy, appointments to make, instructions to receive, 
 found it hopeless to get himself so much as listened to ; 
 nothing but military harangues, battles, sieges, for- 
 tunes, dwelt lingeringly upon by a royal Othello to a 
 listener Avho was not seriously inclined to hear these 
 thinjTjs. The martial enthusiasm over, Geortre would 
 give the signal to go ; and when the minister left the 
 
 2
 
 196 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 cabinet, liis business was no further advanced than when 
 he had entered it. Still, in his really difficult task, 
 Walpole clung firmly to his dogged resolution to keep 
 out of the war. On the eve of a general election to 
 plunge England into a war to give a King to Poland ! 
 Wait at least, urged the minister to his master, till the 
 new parliament is chosen ; and meanwhile he himself 
 kept on his own way in spite of all opposition ; returned 
 vague answers to the imploring, and finally indignant. 
 Emperor ; bore all the abuse from Vienna ; held out 
 against King, Queen, and even his own fellow-ministers ; 
 and carried his point successfully. ' I told the Queen 
 tliis morning,' he said one day in 1734, ' " Madam, there 
 are 50,000 men slain this year in Europe, and not one 
 Euirlishman." ' 
 
 But though Walpole would take no active part in 
 the European quarrel, he was willing enough to try what 
 peaceful intervention could do. Tn July 1734 he sent 
 his diplomatic brother Horatio over to the Hague, to 
 gain Holland's assistance in an oiler of mediation. 
 Horatio was successful ; but tlie Emperor would not 
 hear of such a thinfj, and even did all he could to 
 bring about the fall of Walpole. In the end, however, 
 his misfortunes compelled him to listen to the policy of 
 peace. The war had continued to go hopelessly against 
 him. Don Carlos, leaving his Duchies, hnd marched 
 south, and had been declared King of Naples and Sicily 
 as Charles the Third. On the German side, though 
 Berwick had been killed in the siege of Philipsburg, 
 Prince Eugene had not attacked his army, and the 
 French had taken the town. In such circumstances, 
 very reluctantly tlie Emperor agreed to accept the 
 mediation of the sea powers ; and the English royal 
 speech, in January ]735, announced that England
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE— FOREIGN AFFAIRS 197 
 
 and Holland had made ready a plan of reconcili- 
 ation. 
 
 The parliament to whicli this speech was made was 
 a new one. The opposition had hoped, tliough not 
 too confidently, that the resnlt of the general election 
 miglit improve their prospects. Carteret, writing to 
 the Earl of Marchmont in June 1734, had said : 'We 
 do not despair, nor are too sanguine. We shall find 
 ourselves much weakened in the House of Lords ; we 
 have at present reasonable hopes of a very strong party 
 in the House of Commons.'^ These hopes were not 
 very strikingly fulfilled ; for though Walpole's majority 
 was smaller than it had been, it still remained quite 
 large enough for the minister's purpose. The opposition 
 felt slightly depressed. Yet there were some successes 
 and encouragements. Young men of ability were 
 entering parliament, and were naturally opposed to 
 Walpole's policy. This year 1735 first saw Pitt in par- 
 liament as member for Old Sarum. It was Lyttelton's 
 first session, too ; his, and Eichard Grenville's, after- 
 wards Earl Temple, Pitt's intimate friends. On the 
 whole, the progress of the opposition, if not very 
 remarkable, was distinctly appreciable, and its parlia- 
 mentary activity was very decided. 
 
 The noteworthy point of the royal speech was its 
 reference to the war. England and Holland had 
 concerted plans for attempting to restore peace and 
 for preventing, if possible, another campaign on the 
 continent. The powers at war had agreed to listen to 
 the mediation. Therefore, urged the Government, let 
 parliament now play its due part ; express its satisfac- 
 tion with the condition of affairs ; and, above all, vote 
 abundant supplies. But the opposition was by no 
 
 ' Marchmont Papers, II. 28.
 
 198 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 means inclined to such a complacent view of the situa- 
 tion. Carteret, leading the opposition in the Lords, 
 and backed by Chesterfield, pierced through the various 
 rose-water declarations of the official speech. One 
 more treaty was to be added to the endless number of 
 recent agreements, all of them intended to preserve the 
 peace of Europe, and not one of them doing it. As for 
 English concert with the States General, what Avas the 
 real meaning of that ? While England was spending 
 money and increasing her forces, Holland did not add a 
 man or a ship. The concert seemed chiefly to consist 
 in telling Holland from time to time how much we were 
 spending. Then, when he came to the real heart of 
 the question, Carteret pointed out that the acceptance 
 of the mediation really meant nothing. France and 
 the Emperor had given a general assent to mediation ; 
 but they had not given any assent at all to the particu- 
 lar plan which liad been devised. Any one with a 
 smattering of grammar and mastery of pot-hooks coidd 
 draw up a plan ; l)ut what after all was the use of 
 that ? Carteret was far too shrewd to fancy that any 
 mere plan, however beautiful in itself, could be of much 
 real value ; well-meaning mediators might produce 
 harmonious arrangements on paper ; but the side that 
 had been stronger in war would have very much its 
 own way in negotiations. Considering, therefore, tliat 
 matters were still in an altogether doubtful condition, 
 Carteret was not inclined to express any blind approval 
 of the action of the Government. He desired simply to 
 assure the King of a general support, and of a readiness 
 for action if that should be necessary ; but he would 
 have no compliments over what was past, and no 
 premature exultation over a very uncertain future. 
 The opposition was numerically too feeble to make
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE— FOREIGN AFFAIRS 199 
 
 much impression, and tlie Commons soon voted the 
 desired increase of the forces. Carteret spoke with 
 very great distinction against this augmentation. Even 
 Lord Hervey, usually so sparing of a good word for an 
 opponent of Walpole, writes on this occasion of Car- 
 teret's ' strength, knowledge, and eloquence,' and even 
 wishes that he could give a report of Carteret's speecJi ; 
 a wish at every date hopelessly impossible to gratify. 
 But Carteret's eloquence and strength, supported by 
 Chesterfield's wit and satire, had of course no chance 
 against the Government majority; though again Walpole 
 himself was perhaps not very enthusiastic in support of 
 ]iis own policy, while he yielded so far to George's 
 miUtary notions, and allowed him at least the pleasure 
 of possessing an army which he miglit not use. 
 
 Carteret's shrewd suspicion that the proposed 
 mediation would fail was soon fully justified. France 
 rejected it, and everything was thrown loose again. 
 Once more the Emperor made a last and most imploring 
 appeal to England. He was in a state of almost com- 
 plete collapse, and was reduced to despair, almost to 
 mental insanity, when England decisively refused him 
 assistance. This refusal was almost entirely due to 
 Walpole's dogged determination. lie was ready enough 
 to exhaust all the resources of diplomacy in favour of 
 the Emperor ; but venture men or money in the busi- 
 ness he would not. Though his first pacific effort had 
 failed, Walpole undertook to try again ; attempting, 
 this time, to secure a preliminary agreement with 
 Prance. It was now well enough known that Fleury's 
 real design in the whole afltiir was Lorraine ; that he 
 was resolved to quit the war with Lorraine in his 
 possession. Accepting this inevitable basis, Walpole 
 came to an understanding with France ; it remained his
 
 200 LOBD CARTEBET 
 
 difficult task to gain over the Emperor to tlie settlement. 
 The negotiations were very intricate, but preliminaries 
 of peace were at length drawn u]), and a suspension of 
 arms on the Ehine was the result, in October 1735. 
 As for Stanislaus, in favour of whose Polish claims 
 France had simulated such tragic indignation, nothing 
 was required for him but an acknowledgment of titular 
 royal dignity, tlie solid article being left in possession of 
 Augustus. But France for herself (nominally for her 
 Queen's fatlier as long as lie sliould live) got definite 
 possession of Lorraine ; its Duke Francis, soon to l)e 
 Maria Theresa's husband, receivincr Tuscanv in exchang:e. 
 Don Carlos, already in possession of Naples and Sicily, 
 kept them ; lost Lombai'dy was restored to the Emperor, 
 and France imdertook to guarantee his Pragmatic 
 Sanction. Spain was quite overlooked by France, and 
 left out remorselessly in the cold, much to Spain's angry 
 disgust, though she was forced to accept the European 
 arrangement. So one more Treaty of Vienna was added 
 to the already considerable number of such articles, 
 securing peace to Europe for at least two or three 
 years. Once again Walpole, though never pretending 
 to any mastery of foreign politics, had been successfid ; 
 and, however the more insignificant of his opponents 
 might cavil and deride, the leading men in opposition 
 did not attempt to withhold their approval. Bohng- 
 broke, in his acrid way, declared that if the Government 
 had had any hand in procuring this peace, there was 
 more sense in them than he thoucrht there had been ; and 
 that if they had not, they had far better fortune than 
 they deserved. Pulteney was glad of the happy event, 
 whoever might liave had tlie honour of accomplishing 
 it ; and Carteret in his homely fashion called Walpole 
 the luckiest dog that ever meddled with public affiiirs.
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE— FOREIGN AFFAIRS 201 
 
 Walpole's peace policy had succeeded, but it was 
 for the last time. All events were already steadily and 
 irresistibly gravitating towards war between England 
 and Spain, and Walpole, in struggling against such a 
 conclusion, was striving uselessly against fate. War 
 was inevitable, and, unless war is never justifiable, 
 England's -war against Spain in 1739 was a just one. 
 Cleared of all diplomatic chicanery and technicalities,. 
 and of the various petty questions which always 
 accompany a great crisis, and often for a time loom 
 larger than the essential point at issue, the question for 
 decision really was : Has Spain the right to appropriate 
 the New World to herself, and to shut England out 
 from half the globe? Spain, through her not very 
 magnificent patronage of Columbus, had undoubtedly 
 the external credit, if Columbus had all the real glory, 
 of the re-discovery of America. But because the little 
 boats in which Columbus and his comrades touched one 
 or two minute specks of the new hemisphere were 
 Spanish, Spain had set up a monstrous and altogether 
 inadmissible claim. All America was Spanish ; a Bull 
 of the Pope had satisfactorily sanctioned that ; the 
 highest of clerical persons had by his Bull made all 
 America a part of Spain. To the other European 
 nations the divinity of the Pope's proceeding in this 
 matter was by no means apparent ; and as occasion 
 offered, and especially after Spain's naval power was 
 broken and the Armada had crone to ignominious ruin, 
 England, Holland, and France planted themselves here 
 and there on the coasts and islands of America, and did 
 such trade and commerce as were possible. Spain still 
 held to the divinity of her Bull, and looked with jealous 
 anger on the violation of her sacred property ; but in 
 the circumstances could not effectually stop it, and
 
 202 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 only by various treaties and agreements tried to limit 
 it to the minimum. In order to cripple tlie trade of 
 the Old World with the New, commerce might not act 
 at all without a licence, and its dealings were restricted 
 to certain well-defined articles ; all else was contraband, 
 to be seized by the Spanish officials in the exercise of 
 tlieir Eight of Search. The English South Sea Company 
 was only permitted to send once a year one ship of 
 fixed burthen to trade at Vera Cruz under these limited 
 conditions. 
 
 Treaty arrangements of this very conditional kind 
 are only definable as treaties for the production of 
 contraband trade. That was their inevitable result, 
 with the connivance even of Spain herself Avhen Eng- 
 land happened to be on good terms with her. The one 
 South Sea ship was attended at a respectful distance by 
 various others, which refilled her when her one legjal 
 cargo was exhausted. Smuggling traders sent off their 
 lonsf-boats to the shore, and obtained American ijold 
 and silver for their Old World wares. Accidents of a 
 slightly fabulous kind would often compel a vessel to 
 put into a Spanish port ; and opportunities for trade 
 were not wanting while the mythical repairs were being 
 done. So that the notion of confinincf the trade to the 
 one animal ship began to seem a meaningless condition 
 to the English merchants. But when, as under the first 
 two Georges was too often the case, the relations be- 
 tween England and Spain were the reverse of friendly, 
 things were altogether different. Then the Spanish 
 guarda-costas were exceedingly vigilant ; boats were 
 boarded under just suspicions or not; cutlasses flashed, 
 and very angry feelings were roused on each side. They 
 Avere thousands of miles and months of time distant 
 from Spain and England ; very hot things, just and
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE— FOREIGN AFFAIRS 208 
 
 unjust, were done in those years on those otherwise 
 silent seas. 
 
 Ominous muttering-s beg-an to be heard in Enii'land. 
 The journalists and pamphleteers, the loungers in the 
 coffee-houses, the merchants in the city, gave signs of 
 unmistakable and angry excitement. Wherever one 
 went, stories of the Spanish cruelty were on every hand. 
 At length, towards the close of 1737, the merchants 
 took a decisive step. Many hundreds of them signed a 
 petition, imploring the King's redress for the wrongs 
 which they had already suffered, and begging his 
 efficient protection for the future. The King handed 
 the petition to the Cabinet ; the Cabinet heard the mer- 
 chants ; and Newcastle drew up a memorial to be de- 
 spatched to Spain. The memorial was sent, demanding 
 satisfaction for the cruelties and injustices of the Spanish 
 officers and i?uarda-costas. No answer had been re- 
 ceived when parliament met at the beginning of 
 February ] 738, and a session which was the decisive 
 beginning of the end of Walpole's power commenced. 
 
 The session was practically monopolised by the 
 Spanish question ; and it is worth while to mention a 
 debate which took place near the beginning of it ; for 
 partisan and partial writers have repeatedly misrepre- 
 sented the conduct and views of some at least of the 
 opposition on this particular occasion. It was a ques- 
 tion of the numbers of the army for the year. Reduce 
 the array by some five thousand men, urged Pitt and 
 Pulteney and Lyttelton in the Commons, and Carteret 
 in the Lords. Yet, scornfully and exultingly the par- 
 tisan writers urge, it Avas precisely these statesmen who 
 were loudest in reproach of the behaviour of Spain, 
 and were doing all they could to bring about a war. 
 What inconsistency, petulance, factious opposition ;
 
 204 LORD CARTERET 
 
 with one breath they threaten war ; with the next they 
 weaken the army ! Wliether or not there were factiously 
 inconsistent members of the opposition is a question of 
 httle interest and no profit ; but tliat Carteret was not 
 one of them is certain. Eeviewing on this occasion the 
 general condition of Europe, he admitted that as far as 
 England was concerned Spain was tlie one threatening 
 spot upon the map. He spoke of the guarda-costas 
 and their insults ; and, thouii^h usin"- statesmanlike re- 
 serve, did not allow his meaning to be mistaken. ' Peace, 
 my lords, is a desirable thing for any nation, especially 
 a trading nation ; but whoever thinks that a peace 
 ought to be purchased at the expense of the honour 
 of his country, will at last find himself egregiously 
 mistaken.' How then could Carteret, recognising the 
 possibility of war, urge a reduction of the numbers of 
 the army ? The answer is very simple. ' In such a 
 war, what can we have to do w^ith a land army ? . . . . 
 It is by means of our navy only that we can pretend to 
 force Spain to a compliance with our just demands ; 
 and, therefore, if we are in danger of being involved in 
 a war with that nation, we ought to reduce our army, 
 that v:e may with the wore ease augment our navy.' 
 The Government, of course, objected to Carteret's pro- 
 posal ; the Duke of Newcastle, with well-grounded 
 expressions of diffidence, attempted to answer him. 
 ' Always extremel}^ sorry when I differ from him,' said 
 the apologetic Duke ; though Carteret must generally 
 have been glad. Carteret's views were defeated ; but 
 it is only a wilful misreading of the facts which can 
 call his conduct factious or inconsistent. 
 
 A few days before this speech of Carteret's the dis- 
 cussion on the Spanish question had begun in earnest. 
 The West Indian merchants presented to parliament a
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—FOBEIGN AFFAIRS 205 
 
 ])etition which covered all the ground of the dispute by 
 relating how Spanish promises were broken, treaties 
 disregarded, and English subjects plundered and im- 
 prisoned. Let the House consider all this, implored 
 the merchants, and see how to put an end to it. The 
 flame broke out at once. ' Seventy of our brave sailors 
 are now in chains in Spain ! ' exclaimed one patriotic 
 member ; ' our countrymen in chains and slaves to 
 Spain ! ' As the days passed on petitions on petitions 
 poured in, painfully reciting the Spanish cruelties and 
 the Government's neglect. Can these things be proved ? 
 asked Pulteney. If so, ' I think our ministry have been 
 guilty of a scandalous breach of duty, and the most 
 infamous pusillanimity.' Walpole, anxious not to oflend 
 Spain, tried to smooth things down. Eedress hy nego- 
 tiation was not hopeless yet, he soothingly argued ; 
 await the result of the representatioiis that liave already 
 been made, and do not, by passionate violence, rouse 
 the pride of Spain and make a peaceful solution of tlie 
 difficulty impossible. In spite of inflammatory speeches, 
 Walpole's moderating arguments were heard with ac- 
 ceptance ; and parliament and people stood aside to let 
 dij)lomacy continue her efforts. 
 
 The efforts of diplomacy proved of little worth. 
 Spain ])aid no heed to the Enghsh expostulations ; and 
 Walpole, on his part, was in no way energetic in urging 
 S[)ain to heed. The temper of the nation was roused 
 to resent what it reckoned to be mere official com- 
 ])laisance or unworthy indillercnce. Parliament passed 
 from receiving and reading petitions to investigatino- 
 particular cases, and eagerly listened to individual 
 stories of cruelties, told by the sufferers themselves 
 at the Bar of the House. One story more than an}- 
 other roused horror and anger. Early in 1731, Eobert
 
 206 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 Jenkins, captain of the Rebecca trader, had sailed for 
 Jamaica ; and near Havana, on his way home with liis 
 cargo of sugar, had been boarded by a Spanish guarda- 
 costa. To his assurances that he had nothinj? but su^'ar 
 on board, the Spanish officials listened with complete 
 incredulity ; searched his ship for logwood or other 
 contraband, but found nothing. Baffled in this direc- 
 tion, they avenged their disappointment on the unfor- 
 tunate man ; strung him up, and cut him down, on his 
 own vessel, three times over ; and, as a final outrage, 
 tore off one of his ears, and, contemptuously flinging it 
 to him, bade him take that to his King, as evidence of 
 Spain's views on commercial questions. Then they left 
 him, plundered of his ship's instruments, to work his 
 way home as best he might. 
 
 Safely, though in this mutilated condition, Jeiikins 
 reached England, and laid his ear and himself before 
 the King. Some personal compensation was made to 
 Jenkins himself ; no other action at that time was taken. 
 But now, in the midst of the growing excitement, this 
 old story was revived. Parliament turned to Jenkins ; 
 ordered him to present himself for examination, and 
 heard his story from his own lips. Allowing for rhe- 
 torical or theatrical exaggerations, there is no reason to 
 question the essential accuracy of Jenkins's narrative, 
 although cynical or interested official persons hinted 
 that the pillory was responsible for the absence of the 
 man's ear, and although Burke afterwards called the 
 whole story a ' fable.' The nation accepted it as a 
 typical instance of the conduct of Spain, and was driven 
 almost to fury by it. ' We have no need of allies,' ex- 
 claimed Pulteney ; ' the story of Jenkins will raise 
 volunteers.' Parliament took up the question with re- 
 newed interest. Pulteney, as opposition leader in the
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—FOBEIGN AFFAIRS 207 
 
 Commons, reviewed the whole course of Enghmd's 
 quarrel with Spam ; laid down, one after the other, the 
 various rights which England indisputably had in the 
 New World, and indignantly asked why Spain had been 
 allowed to interfere with every one of them. For years 
 back, he argued, our ships had been seized, our sailors 
 plundered, imprisoned, tortured, enslaved ; and no re- 
 paration had ever been procurable. He therefore 
 pressed the House to once more categorically assert its 
 privileges in resolutions which could not be mistaken. 
 
 Walpole felt considerably embarrassed. He could 
 not call in question the various English rights which 
 Pulteney had laid down ; yet he was unwilling to 
 accept, at this particular moment, the resolutions which 
 vindicated them. He uro:ed the House not vet to be 
 peremptory and explicit, which would make war un- 
 avoidable ; but still to be vaguely general, to let minis- 
 ters continue their negotiations, and, if possible, secure 
 peace. He would not listen to Pulteney's resolutions, 
 and himself proposed in their place an amendment 
 drawn up in quite general terms. Pulteney severely 
 reproached him for this, and bitterly contrasted Crom- 
 well's manner of negotiating and upholding the honour 
 of the country with the action of a Prime Minister who 
 practically cared for nothing but the meaner parts of 
 office, and stood aside in passive indifference while the 
 nation was insulted abroad and mutinous at home. 
 Walpole's tough skin was pi'obably little pricked by 
 Pulteney's angry eloquence ; his majority was still sure, 
 and the Patriots might storm as they pleased. 
 
 But Carteret, in the Lords, had much better success 
 than Pidteney. The Earl of Cholmondeley, though he 
 was Walpole's own son-in-law, advocated more decisive 
 action than even Pulteney had required ; and Carteret
 
 208 LORD CARTERET 
 
 went further tlian Cliolmondeley. Pulteney had demanded 
 a parhamentary assertion of existing Enghsh rights ; 
 Carteret went beyond academical discussion, and de- 
 manded an effectual securing of them. He had his eye 
 on the heart of the question. The real point in dispute 
 was very large and very simple. It was not whether 
 Spain had the right to seize English ships found trading 
 in Spanish ports. Spain had that right, just as England 
 might also confiscate Spanish ships in corresj)onding 
 circumstances. It was not whether Spain might 
 strictly hold down the one South Sea ship to trade of 
 precise limitations. By treaty conditions, Spain fairly 
 had that right. The essential question was very much 
 wider. It simply was : Has Spain the right of search- 
 ing English ships on the high seas? May an English 
 ship, sailing from English possessions in the West Indies 
 home to the Old World, be stopped and boarded by 
 Spanish guarda-costas ? The whole English demand 
 was contained in two words : No search. Here was the 
 essential point of tlie wJiole matter, and to this the 
 whole of Carteret's elaborate speech was directly ad- 
 dressed. ' " No search," ' he said, ' are tlie words that 
 echo from shore to shore of this island. ..." No 
 search " is a cry that runs from the sailor to the mer- 
 chant, from the merchant to the parliament, and from 
 parliament it ought to reach the throne.' 
 
 On this occasion the cry may be presumed to have 
 reached the throne, for the Lords yielded to Carteret's 
 arguments — some even of Walpole's colleagues evidently 
 approving tliem — and an address was sent up to the 
 King. Yet Walpole managed to get the session finished 
 without definitely committing liimself A few slightly 
 vigorous preparations were made, as in the circum- 
 stances it was necessary to do something ; but the
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—FOBEIGN AFFAIRS 209 
 
 minister's hopes still rested on negotiation and the 
 possibilities of diplomacy. He did, after infinite diffi- 
 culty, seem to succeed in a minute degree, when a 
 rather vague Convention was agreed to between England 
 and Spain, which arranged that plenipotentiaries should 
 meet at Madrid to attempt to bring matters to a clear 
 understanding. From the various treaties already in 
 existence, these plenipotentiaries were clearly to extract 
 the explicit regulations which limited trade and defined 
 boundaries ; they were to settle the sum which Spain 
 should pay to the British merchants for losses already 
 unjustly suffered ; and they were — to say nothing what- 
 ever about the Eight of Search ! Such was Walpole's 
 diplomatic success, obtained after infinite difficulty ; a 
 vague, conditional agreement, about this and that, in 
 which the one essential point of the whole question was 
 scrupulously avoided. When the thing was announced 
 to j)arliament and the nation, it was received with un- 
 bounded contempt. Chatham, speaking in the House 
 of Lords more than thirty years after, dwelt upon the 
 ' universal discontent ' which this miserable Convention 
 excited. The whole question between Spain and 
 England was, indeed, one of those cases wdiere the 
 instinct of the nation was far truer than that of the 
 minister. The nation instinctively felt that it was not a 
 matter for negotiation at all. Carteret saw the same 
 thing. Chatham's speech, delivered long after Car- 
 teret's death, gives — if it were needed — direct evidence 
 of this. ' This great man [Carteret, to whose memory 
 Chatham had been paying a tribute] has often observed 
 to me, that in all the negotiations which preceded the 
 Convention, our ministers never found out that there 
 was no ground or subject for any negotiation ; that the 
 Spaniards had not a right to search our ships ; and 
 
 P
 
 210 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 when tliey attempted to regulate that right by treaty, 
 they were regulating a thing which did not exist.' 
 Walpole was, in fact, applying the small, peddling 
 politics which he had known how to use so long for 
 his own advantage, to a case where not peddling 
 politics, but clear-sighted patriotic statesmanship 
 alone would answer. 
 
 The paltry Convention arrived in London in the 
 first weeks of 1739, and on the first of February parlia- 
 ment met. The debate, technically on the Address, 
 was practically on the Convention. Ministers of course 
 spoke favourably, though feebly, of their own remark- 
 able piece of work ; but the opposition attack was very 
 keen. The ministry was bitterly referred to as one 
 wdiich had neither courage to make war nor skill to 
 make peace. The point of Search not being settled, 
 wliat is the use, asked Chesterfield, of these commis- 
 sioners with their grand name of plenipotentiaries, their 
 salaries, and their long-winded negotiations ? If Spanish 
 search is to be endured, trade is absolutely ruined. 
 There will not be an English ship in which Spain will 
 not declare that contraband goods are carried. They 
 will find logwood and cocoa, and declare these are con- 
 traband ; yet logwood and cocoa grow in Jamaica. 
 They will find gold pieces of eight, and declare they 
 are contraband. Yet are not pieces of eight the current 
 coin of our own colonies ? Carteret spoke severely of 
 the tame submissions of tlie ministi-y, which had almost 
 invited Spanish insults, and declared that the settlement 
 of the cardinal point : No search on the high seas : 
 ought to have been the preliminary to negotiations of 
 an}^ kind whatever. ' Are plenipotentiaries to determine 
 whether we shall go to our own colonies safe and re- 
 turn safe ? The Cardinal [Fleury] would not suffer a
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—FOBEIGN AFFAIRS 211 
 
 minister to come into the tenth ante-chamber, that 
 should talk of searching French ships. Ask all the 
 young nobility that have travelled : have they not 
 observed that the honour of the English nation hatli 
 suffered abroad ? The Court of Spain think j^ou dare 
 not attack them. Show them that you dare, and all is 
 over.' ^ 
 
 Though the numerical victory was with the Govern- 
 ment, the force of argument was clearly witli the 
 opposition. Newcastle and Hervey made a very poor 
 show against Carteret, Chesterfield, and Argyle. But 
 worse parliamentar}^ treatment than this was in store 
 for Walpole, and out of doors the public feeling against 
 him began to run very high. The nation, disgusted at 
 the omission of the main point in dispute, was filled 
 with passion by one of the conditions of the Convention, 
 which agreed that a large sum of money should be 
 paid to Spain for the ships which had been destroyed 
 more than twenty years before by Admiral Byng. 
 People asked, with scornful anger, if England was also 
 to pay damages for the destruction of the Spanish 
 Armada. ' TJie city is in a flame, and almost nobody 
 pleased,' wrote the Earl of Marchmont. ' The prints 
 show Sir Eobert's o-^ard in a ridiculous enouo-h lii>]it. 
 He is certainly distressed, and with good reason.' ''^ The 
 Earl of Stair wrote : ' The whole nation is on our side, 
 and only Sir Robert and his gang on the other. ... I 
 hope the time is not far off when his majesty will see 
 clearly that he had no other enemy in this nation so 
 much to be feared as Sir Eobert and his gang.'^ A 
 vivid little piece of evidence from the Magazine in 
 
 ^ Seeker's Manuscript ; in Parliamentary History, vol. X. Seeker's 
 MS. is the best authority — as far as it goes — for the debates in the Lords. 
 = Marchmont Tapers, II. 111. March 10, I7oO. 
 "^ .7. M. Graham's Stair, II. 247, 248. 
 
 P 2
 
 212 LORD CARTEBET 
 
 which Samuel Johnson had just begun to toil and 
 drudo-e for a livelihood, serves to illustrate the uni- 
 versal interest roused by the one question of the day. 
 On one of the February evenings of 1739 London en- 
 tertained itself with a grand civic masquerade : ' Where, 
 among many humourous and whimsical characters, 
 what seemed most to engage the attention of the com- 
 pany was a Spaniard, very richly dressed, who called 
 himself Knight of the Ear ; as a badge of which Order 
 he wore on his breast the form of a Star, whose points 
 seemed tinged with blood ; on which was j)ainted an 
 Ear, and round it, written in capital letters, the word 
 JENKINS ; and across his shoulders hung, instead of a 
 ribband, a large halter, which he held up to several 
 persons disguised like Enghsh sailors, who seemed to 
 pay him great reverence ; and, falling on their knees 
 before him, with many tokens of fear and submission, 
 suffered him very tamely to rummage their pockets ; 
 which when he had done, he very insolently dismissed 
 them with strokes of his halter. Several of the sailors 
 had a bloody ear hanging down from their heads, and 
 on their hats these words : Ear for Ear ; while on the 
 hats of others was written : iVc Search, or No Trade ; 
 with the like sentences.'' 
 
 The excitement in the nation was reflected in par- 
 liament. A week after its meetincr, the Duke of New- 
 castle formally presented to the Lords a copy of the 
 Convention. A Spanish debate of necessity arose, and 
 Carteret took an exceedingly active part in it. Even 
 Government speakers were forced to admit the weight 
 which attached to his views. On this particular 
 occasion he worried the poor Duke of Newcastle in a 
 most effectual way. The Duke presented the Conven- 
 
 ^ Gentleman's Magazine for 1739; p. 103.
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—FOBEIGN AFFAIRS 213 
 
 tion with its separate articles and ratifications. Is there 
 not another paper ? asked Carteret ; some protest or 
 declaration handed in by Spain, the acceptance of which 
 by England is to be the condition of Spain's observance 
 of the Convention ? How very glad, said Carteret, the 
 Duke would be to answer such a question, and by his 
 answer show that while the Government had consulted 
 for the peace of the nation, it had also remembered its 
 interest and honour. But ministeriahsts suggested that 
 such a request was out of order, and that an informal 
 question of that kind could not be answered. Where- 
 upon Carteret again blandly rose : ' My lords, when I 
 threw out my distant surmises with great simphcity 
 of heart, I did not wish to do anything formal, or lay 
 the Duke under any restraint ; but thought he would 
 cheerfully take the hint, and be glad to do so.' Thus 
 Newcastle was almost forced to rise, and, sadly protest- 
 ing against the compulsion, he declared that the papers 
 presented were the only ones which English officials in 
 Spain had signed. Here was no answer to Carteret at 
 all. Yes, these are all which English ministers have 
 signed ; but is there not something more which Spain 
 alone signed and handed in? Let us have them all, and 
 see what private concessions have been made. Other- 
 wise Carteret in his plain way remarked that he would 
 regard the Convention and its stipulations as 'mere 
 grimace.' The afflicted Duke rose again ; thought he 
 had answered Carteret ; and in liis helpless, blundering 
 fashion declared that if the English officials had signed 
 no other paper about the Convention, no other paper on 
 the subject could exist ! Carteret quite meekly expressed 
 his regret that he had not made himself intelligible, and 
 repeated his question ; to which, now, Newcastle rising 
 once more, had to answer, 'Yes, there is another docu-
 
 214 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 ment.' ' I think it very proper,' said Carteret, who had 
 a strong sense of humour, ' to return ray acknowledg- 
 ments to the noble Duke for condescending so readily to 
 answer the doubt I had proposed.' 
 
 Thus Carteret had extorted from the Government the 
 admission that even the Convention, whicli parliament 
 and the country found so objectionable, was not ail. 
 Beliind it, and as the sole condition on which Spain had 
 accepted it, stood a demand on the South Sea Company 
 for immediate payment of a large sum declared to be 
 due to Spain as tax-money on negro slaves ; and if this 
 were not immediately paid, the King of Spain would sus- 
 pend the Company's Assiento treaty. Here was the 
 Convention, with which Government expressed so much 
 curious satisfaction, actually dependent on the result 
 of a private negotiation between the King of Spain and 
 the South Sea Trading Company. We are to force the 
 Company to agree to Spain's demands, or all our nego- 
 tiating is to be a mere farce, burst out the Duke of 
 Argyle. A fresh point was evidently made for the op- 
 position, and the storm steadily gathered force. Petitions 
 against so unsatisfactory a Convention began to pour 
 in ; tlie London magistrates petitioned ; the Liverpool 
 merchants petitioned ; the West Lidia merchants of 
 London tumultuously thronged about the Houses. The 
 opposition took up the cause of the merchants, and ran 
 the Government very close. Yet so far all the parlia- 
 mentary proceedings had been little more than prelimi- 
 nary skirmishings ; the real pitched battle began in the 
 House of Lords on March 1, when the Convention itself 
 was formally taken into consideration. 
 
 Carteret led the opposition, and gathered into one 
 impressive whole and strikingly drove home an elaborate 
 indictment against the conduct of tlie Government. He
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE— FOREIGN AFFAIRS 215 
 
 exposed with ease the utter worthlessness of a Conven- 
 tion which obtained neither re|)aration for the past nor 
 security for the future ; severely blamed the Government 
 for leaving plenipotentiaries to argue vital points that 
 admitted no argument ; and emphatically declared the 
 proposed agreement destructive and dishonourable to 
 1 he nation ; ' a mortgage of your honour, a surrender of 
 your liberties.' ' I do not often,' he said, ' speak in the 
 learned languages; but I am afraid, my lords, the pro- 
 phetic phrase which I once heard a most learned lord 
 pronounce, venit summa dies, will now be verified.' 
 Still, remembering the strong resolutions which the 
 Lords had passed last year — and it was one of Carteret's 
 severest reproaches to the Grovernment that they had 
 done absolutely nothing to give those resolutions any 
 effect — he hoped that he might have a happiness to 
 Avhich he had lately been unaccustomed, and find him- 
 self and his views in the majority. Carteret spoke very 
 powerfully, but altogether on the merits of the question, 
 with an entire avoidance of captious or personal attack- 
 With the Duke of Argyle it was otherwise. ' It is said 
 in general that the whole debate was an extreme fine 
 one, conducted with great dignity and decency as a 
 national concern, and not personal or ministerial. The 
 Duke of Argyle, who spoke for two hours, w^as the 
 only one who, as I hear, took much freedom with the 
 ministry.' ^ Argyle was indeed very vehement. ' Let who 
 will approve of such a measure,! never will; Iwill die first.' 
 He was very scornful as well as vehement ; and plainly 
 intimated that it was not the ministry but the Minister 
 who was responsible for the unsatisfactory state of affairs. 
 Chesterfield also was eloquent against this inglorious 
 Convention, this warlike peace, this perpetual patch- 
 
 > Orlebar to Etough, March 3, 1739. Coxe's Walpole, III. 515, 516.
 
 21G LOBD CARTERET 
 
 work of a statesman who dealt only with and through 
 the rotten hearts of sycophants and time-servers. The 
 very tapestry on the walls, the record of former historic 
 glories, was appealed to ; and fervid oratory gloomily 
 hoped that patriotic looms would strike work for the 
 present. 
 
 The wit and eloquence, as well as the real weight of 
 argument, were conspicuously on the opposition side ; 
 yet still the Government majority, though by much 
 smaller numbers than usual, ^ carried the day. There 
 was undeniable force in many of the reasons and excuses 
 put forward by the Government — the already heavy 
 debt ; the danger from the Pretender ; the certainty 
 that France would join Spain. These were real argu- 
 ments of their kind, and on them the Government rested 
 its case ; but the broad question, whether the present 
 was not one of those occasions on which all minor 
 hazards must be lightly regarded in the presence of one 
 overwhelming danger, was never faced by Walpole. A 
 hand-to-mouth policy, if only a parliamentary majority 
 could be got to sanction it, was all that the Prime Min- 
 ister had to propose. Yet even from the personal point 
 of view, if from no higher, Walpole might have begun 
 to doubt whether his action had been altogether wise. 
 The victory which he had just gained in the Lords was 
 not of a very triumphant character ; the success which 
 he was about to gain in the Commons was little less 
 than Pyrrhic. The Commons took up the Convention a 
 week later than the Lords. On tlie first day of their 
 real proceedings, after two days spent in formal reading 
 of papers, more than u hundred members took their 
 seats before seven o'clock in the morning, and nearly 
 five hundred were present at prayers before ten. The 
 
 ^ 95 to 74. The Prince of Wales voted with tlie opposition.
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE— FOREIGN AFFAIBS 217 
 
 Prince of Wales sat in the gallery all day long till mid- 
 night, and had his dinner sent to him there, rather than 
 lose anything of the debate. Horatio Walpole was the 
 first speaker. Slovenly Horatio did his tedions best to 
 remove wliat he considered prejndices against the Con- 
 vention. His general maxims on peace and war were 
 doubtless admirable as sonorous platitudes; the circum- 
 stances of Europe might, as he argued, be deplorable 
 enough ; only these were not the questions at issue. 
 ' A piece of waste paper ; that is your Convention,' re- 
 torted the opposition. Pitt thundered against it. Are 
 plenipotentiaries, he asked, to discuss our ' undoubted 
 right by treaties, and from God, and from nature? ' ' Is 
 this any longer a nation, or what is an English parlia- 
 ment, if, with more ships in your harbours than in 
 all the navies of Europe, with above two millions of 
 people in your American Colonies, you will bear to hear 
 of the expediency of receiving from Spain an insecure, 
 unsatisfactory, dishonourable Convention ? . . . This 
 Convention, Sir, I think from my soul is nothing but a 
 stipulation for national ignominy ; an illusory expedient 
 to baffle the resentment of the nation. . . . The com- 
 plaints of your despairing merchants, tlie voice of 
 England has condemned it ; be the guilt of it upon the 
 head of the adviser ; God forbid that this Committee 
 should share the guilt by approving it ! ' 
 
 In spite of Pitt's invective, the Committee did share 
 the guilt ; though Walpole's majority, in a House which 
 had once been full of his creatures, had so far dwindled 
 that in a vote of nearly five liundred members he was 
 saved by only twenty-eight. Tiie opposition, disappoint- 
 ed, and declarincr that the arc^uments were all on one 
 side and tlie votes on the other, took the foolishly 
 unpractical step of seceding from the House. Carteret
 
 218 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 in vain expressed his disapproval ; he could not per- 
 suade even Pulteney to oppose such feeble folly. Sir 
 William Wyndham, in a slightly tragic manner, bade a 
 final adieu to that parliament, very considerably to the 
 cynical satisfaction of Walpole ; and the ministerialists 
 were left mainly to themselves. Yet even to the 
 dullest of their party it could hardly now be doubtful 
 that war was surely coming. It was now the second 
 week in May ; the Convention which so small a parlia- 
 mentary majority had approved named May 24 as the 
 last day on which England woidd accept the payment 
 of the small sum with which Spain had reluctantly 
 agreed to compensate the English merchants. No one, 
 not even the Government, any longer professed to 
 believe that Spain would pay the money. Sheer neces- 
 sity infused a little energy into the proceedings of the 
 administration. To anticipate the probable action of 
 France, a subsidy was offered to Denmark, and 6,000 
 Danish troops were thus gained over to the Englisli 
 side. Parliament voted unusual supplies and an in- 
 crease of the forces. Carteret earnestly advised an 
 alliance with Frederick Wilham of Prussia, the most 
 powerful Protestant ruler on the Continent. ' If you 
 have no liope of Prussia, you will not have a word to 
 say in Germany ; and he may be gained upon right and 
 good grounds.'^ Carteret's constant and statesmanlike 
 interest in Prussia and Germany generally has been 
 signally justified in more modern times ; but it is need- 
 less to say that his present prudent advice was dis- 
 regarded. 
 
 Thus the days passed on. May 24 among them ; 
 and the Government, asked if Spain had paid the money, 
 could only answer, No. Once more the Lords had a 
 
 ' Seeker MS. ut stqn-a.
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—FOBEIGN AFFAIBS 219 
 
 Spanish debate, the last that was to be necessary. Car- 
 teret, of course, took the lead. He treated the Conven- 
 tion as a thing which practically no longer existed, and 
 ridiculed the paltry ministerial action which was leaving 
 and allowing the merchant ships themselves to make 
 reprisals on Spanish vessels for the losses which they 
 suffered. It was a case, said Carteret, in which the 
 royal navy of Great Britain ought to act. Yet the 
 Government still continued its policy of dilatory indefi- 
 niteness, and managed to close tlie session in June 
 without any direct parliamentary condemnation of its 
 conduct. But there was no longer any practical doubt 
 that Spain and England must fight. The King was 
 desirous for war ; Walpole's own colleagues were by 
 no means unanimous in approval of his peace policy ; 
 the feeling of the nation was dead against it. At last, 
 during the summer recess, vigorous preparations began 
 in earnest. The English ambassador at Madrid was 
 instructed to require a definite renunciation of the 
 S}>anish claim of Eight of Search, and to leave the 
 country at once if the reply were not satisfactory. Here 
 at length was definite action ; and immediately there 
 was evidence of the spirit of fairness and patriotism 
 which always marked Carteret's conduct in opposition. 
 In August 1739 Carteret wrote to the Earl of March- 
 mont, who, as Lord Polwarth and ambassador at 
 Copenhagen, had been his old friend and fellow- worker 
 in the tangled business of restoring peace to the North 
 of Europe : — 
 
 ' The ministers are at present, in all aj)pearance, 
 I)ursuing the sense of the nation, and acting towards the 
 Spaniards as they should have acted long ago. The 
 nation desires no war, but yet will not be contented 
 with such a peace as of late we have had ; and if, in
 
 220 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 vindication of our honour, and in pursuing tlie necessary 
 measures to obtain a good peace, war should break out, 
 which is most Hkely, we must repel force by force, from 
 whatsoever quarter it comes, as well as we can ; and the 
 showing internal discontents, howsoever founded, at 
 this time, may precipitate our ruin, but can never have 
 any tendency to save us. These are my notions ; which 
 I do not give you as a volunteer ; that would be pre- 
 sumption ; but I lay them before you, and those friends 
 you may converse with, because you honour me by ask- 
 ing my opinion. We are all sorry that we cannot make 
 things better ; for God's sake, do not let us make them 
 worse ; and if the nation is to be undone (which, by 
 the way, I do not believe it will), let us act so as never 
 to have reason to reproach ourselves of having done 
 amiss, though out of zeal and good intentions, in this 
 critical conjuncture.'^ 
 
 England's final demands at Madrid obtained no 
 satisfaction, and the decisive step was at last taken. 
 A royal manifesto was issued at Kensington, and in 
 London war between England and Spain was publicly 
 declared by heralds on November 3, 1739. Parlia- 
 ment met long before its usual time, and the eager 
 activity of the Lords and Commons reflected the enthu- 
 siasm of the people. Carteret, after the Government in 
 the Lords had done its necessary official speaking, rose 
 to express the views of the opposition. Practical 
 common- sense was as usual at the basis of his policy. 
 Now you have actually entered upon war, he urged, 
 let your one consideration be the vigorous conduct of 
 the war. Go to the best officers ; select your generals 
 and admirals ; and, having done so, leave their actions 
 as far as possible to themselves, and let ministers and 
 
 1 Marchmont Papers, II. 135, 130,
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—FOBEIGN AFFAIRS 221 
 
 negotiators stand aside. Do not allow the management 
 of the war to be as perplexed and timorous as the con- 
 duct of the negotiations. Let the war really be war. 
 It is evident that among the opposition there was great 
 fear of a policy of half-measures. Chesterfield bluntly 
 expressed this when he said that it would not be a good 
 omen if those who had been ag:ainst the war should 
 be consulted in the conduct of it. This feeling was, 
 however, expressed much more plainly in the House 
 of Commons. There Sir William Wyndham desired to 
 obtain an agreement that the war should not be ended 
 till Spain acknowledged the right of British ships to 
 navigate the American seas. In his plain way, Walpole 
 declared that he knew Wyndham's speech was levelled 
 at him, and designed to make him unpopular. ' The 
 honourable gentleman and liis friends have a mind to 
 take a httle diversion, and have singled me out as the 
 deer for the sport of the day. But they may find. Sir, 
 that I am not so easily hunted down as they imagine. 
 I have lived long enough in the world to know that 
 the safety of a minister lies in his having the approba- 
 tion of this House. Former ministers neglected this, 
 and therefore tliey fell. I have always made it my first 
 study to obtain it, and therefore I hope to stand.' 
 Designed to make him unpopular ? sneered Pulteney. ' I 
 am sorry to say he has very little popularity to lose.' 
 Pulteney was very severe on Walpole, constantly lashing 
 the ' right honourable gentleman near me' ; for leaders 
 of Government and of Opposition sat next one another 
 on the same bench. Past disasters and inaction were 
 not forgotten, and mysterious hints of impeachment 
 were dropped. Walpole might well compare himself 
 to a baited animal ; the political chase had never been 
 so severe.
 
 222 LORD CAETEEET 
 
 The war, however, in spite of all these attacks on 
 Walpole and his management, seemed to be beginning 
 successfully. Already, in July, Admiral Yernon had 
 sailed for the West Indies ; and when this parliamentary 
 tumult was at its highest had just arrived at Porto 
 Bello. Two days later, on December 3, it surrendered 
 to his attack. An express arrived in London from 
 victorious Vernon with the news in March 1740. The 
 rejoicings were almost inconceivable. Parliament sent 
 congratulatory addresses to the King ; Walpole and 
 Newcastle gave grand entertainments in honour of the 
 event ; the London Corporation voted the inevitable 
 freedom in the inevitable gold box. Yet even this 
 success was used as a blow against the Government. If 
 Yernon, with only six ships, and no land-force but some 
 two hundred and forty men lent him from Jamaica, had 
 been able to do this, what miQ:ht he not have done but 
 for a jealous, niggardly Government, which stinted him 
 of sliips and deprived him of soldiers ? But not the most 
 captious member of opposition could complain of inac- 
 tivity now. All through the summer months the ports 
 and dockyards were busy ; great preparations were on 
 hand to assist Yernon in attacking Cartagena, a more im- 
 portant Spanish town in the New World than Porto Bello 
 itself. In September, Anson sailed with his three ships, 
 to make his memorable voyage round Cape Horn ; and 
 in November a large sea and land force left England 
 for Yernon and the West Indies ; on board one of the 
 ships of the line being a young surgeon's mate, not yet 
 twenty years old, named Tobias Smollett. 
 
 But during all these preparations, two very import- 
 ant events took place on the Continent, which were 
 destined to change the whole complexion of the quarrel. 
 On the last day of May 1740 died Frederick Wilham,
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—FOBEIGN AFFAIRS 223 
 
 second King of Prussia, and Europe knew nothing of 
 the character of his successor ; and on October 20 
 died the Emperor Charles VI., and the Pragmatic 
 Sanction, which it had been the main business of his 
 life to secure, went to utter ruin, and dragged almost 
 every country of Europe to quarrel and war. 
 
 In such threatening European circumstances, the 
 English parliament met again in November 1740. The 
 Lords in opposition were especially energetic from the 
 very beginning of the session. Before the reading of 
 the King's speech was well finished, before the King him- 
 self had left the House, the Duke of Argyle was up, 
 and, anticipating the formal harangue of the official 
 ministerialist performer, plunged into an arraignment 
 of the Government. Chesterfield, not too well pleased 
 with Carteret's ascendency among the opposition leaders, 
 had recommended this action of Aro;yle's : thinkino- 
 that Carteret, who always represented the more moder- 
 ate, responsible opposition, would either, by declining 
 to follow Argyle, lose for himself the support of the 
 more advanced party, or, by following Argyle, would 
 seem to be surrendering the foremost place. Chester- 
 field's somewhat malicious speculations proved fanciful 
 merely. Carteret did support Argjde ; but he also 
 emphatically kept the lead. Argyle, himself a soldier, 
 confined himself chiefly to the military j)oint of view, 
 and found it an easy task to denounce the conduct of 
 the war from the beginning to tlie end. One success, 
 not a very overpowering one for all the rejoicings it had 
 caused, there had been ; but no one could fairly give 
 the Government any credit for what Admiral Vernon 
 had done. Argyle beat upon the Government effectively 
 enough on this military side. Carteret also was severe 
 on this matter, but he mainly looked at the subject in
 
 224 LOBD C ARTE RET 
 
 its strict political light. His attack upon the adminis- 
 tration, and especially upon Walpole, was very strong. 
 ' A minister who has for almost twenty years been de- 
 monstrating to the world that he has neither wisdom 
 nor conduct. He may have a little low cunning, such 
 as those have that buy cattle in Smithfield market, or 
 such as a French valet makes use of for managing an 
 indulgent master ; but the whole tenour of his con- 
 duct has shown that he has no true wisdom. This 
 our allies know and bemoan ; this our enemies know 
 and rejoice in.' 
 
 The attack thus begun was week after week energetic- 
 ally followed up. The state of the army, the instruc- 
 tions to Vernon in the Caribbean Sea, to Haddock in the 
 Mediterranean, offered countless opportunities for lively 
 debate. Such guerilla skirmishing was of the liveliest, 
 but could not be decisive or thoroughly satisfactory to 
 either side. The opposition therefore resolved to put 
 out all their strength in one grand effort, and to go to 
 the root of all their complainings — patriotic, some of 
 them, factious undoubtedly, others — by definitely de- 
 manding the resignation of Walpole. On the same day, 
 February 13, 1741, this formal attack was made in both 
 Houses of Parliament. The House of Lords was crowded 
 when Carteret rose to deliver his indictment against the 
 Prime Minister in a long, elaborate speech, worthy of 
 his unrivalled political knowledge. The whole field of 
 foreign and domestic politics for a period of nearly 
 twenty years lay open before him, from the bickerings 
 between the Emperor Charles and Elizabeth Farnese, 
 down to the Spanish Convention and the unsatisfactory 
 management of the war. The endless treatying and 
 counter-treatying, the imbecile Congresses, the shifting 
 alliances, the want of anything like a clear and con-
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—FOEEIGN AFFAIES 225 
 
 sistent line of action on the part of the Government, 
 offered material which a less able man than Carteret 
 mi^ht have turned to o-ood account. The main note 
 of his speech was the one point which is the simple 
 and always consistent explanation of Carteret's chief 
 views on European politics. All through Carteret's 
 hfetime the French had been attempting to aggrandise 
 themselves in Europe at the expense of German3^ 
 Sometimes they had succeeded, as when Fleury had 
 managed to get hold of Lorraine ; sometimes they failed, 
 as was once to be very conspicuously the case while 
 Carteret himself was at the head of affairs in England. 
 But always and in all circumstances Carteret's policy was 
 decided and the same : the Fi'ench must be kept out of 
 Germany. That Walpole's line of action had not clearly 
 kept this policy in view, but that a shilly-shally proce- 
 dure had made France and Austria our friends and ene- 
 mies alternately, was Carteret's chief point of reproach. 
 As usual, Carteret did not treat the question from 
 the personal point of view. ' I am not for appearing in 
 anything peevish or personal,' he expressly said ; and, 
 wdien himself in power, he proved the truth of his asser- 
 tion by taking the lead in opposing unfair treatment of 
 the fallen minister. But he did not shrink from the 
 political application of his indictment. ' If one physician 
 cannot cure a fever, take another.' ' If people fall 
 asleep on their post, it is mild to say, Pray remove them.' 
 Carteret distinctly declared that if Walpole could be 
 considered competent to extricate the nation from the 
 confusion that existed at home and abroad, he would 
 be willing to let him do it. That could not be, and the 
 inevitable conclusion followed : that the King be advised 
 to remove Sir Robert Walpole from his presence and 
 counsels for ever. 
 
 Q
 
 226 LORD CARTERET 
 
 For eleven hours the Lords debated tliis excitinjj 
 question, and were very lavish of eager rhetoric. 
 Walpole was very severely handled. ' Except those 
 who depend on him, there are not fifty subjects in 
 the kingdom but most ardently wish to have him re- 
 moved,' said one peer. ' A saucy master,' who ' hath 
 treated with his usual buffoonery what the nation hath 
 set its heart on,' said another. Argyle was very 
 bitter, and pressed David into the ranks of opposition. 
 ' Take away the wicked froni before the King,' con- 
 cluded the too sanguine Duke, ' and his throne shall be 
 established in ri^'hteousness.' But soon after midnii>-ht 
 the Lords decided that this desirable establishment 
 might very well wait. Carteret had been very elo- 
 quent ; but the time was not yet come. ' My Lord 
 Carteret did speak two hours as well as any man in 
 the world could speak, but all in vain,' wrote the 
 Duchess of Marlborough, now very old, but full of 
 patriotism. ' One of the finest discourses I ever saw 
 in any language,' the Earl of Stair said of Carteret's 
 speech, though its eloquence had been unavailing. No 
 one, certainly not Carteret himself, expected a numerical 
 parliamentary victory for the opposition. Some lively 
 writers even asserted that Carteret had taken up the 
 question unwillingly and was full of vexation and 
 chagrin at the part he played in it. One of young 
 Horace Walpole's correspondents ventured to become 
 particular over this view. ' Two minutes after he had 
 made the motion he rubbed his periwig off, and has 
 not ceased biting his nails and scratching his head ever 
 since.' ^ Lively writing of this kind is so very amusing, 
 and it is so agreeable to believe what one would like to 
 believe. If Carteret did rub his periwig off, one has an 
 
 1 H. S. Conway to Horace Walpole ; Feb. 16, 1741.
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—FOBEIGN AFFAIRS 227 
 
 exact, tliough a minutely insignificant, biographical fact. 
 As far as other matters are concerned, the lively writer 
 may be disregarded. 
 
 Walpole had thus been successful in the one House, 
 and he might reckon himself fortunate also in the other. 
 In the Commons, many members had taken their seats 
 by six o'clock in the morning ; and the debate, which 
 began before noon, lasted till between three and four 
 o'clock in the following day. Yet the result was a 
 foregone conclusion. It was still Walpole's own parlia- 
 ment, and he ran no real risk. He himself treated the 
 affair in a very confident style, and, in his outspoken 
 way, declined to listen to any arguments which pro- 
 fessed to be based upon patriotism. The whole thing, 
 he declared, was a mere attempt to get into office, and 
 the less said of patriotism the better. ' A patriot, Sir ! 
 why, patriots spring up like mushrooms ! I could raise 
 iifty of them within the four and twenty hours. I have 
 raised many of them in one night. It is but refusing to 
 gratify an unreasonable or an insolent demand, and up 
 starts a patriot.' The eloquence of Pulteney and other 
 opposition leaders was, from the division-list point of 
 view, wasted ; many members declined to vote at all ; 
 and even so important a member of opposition as Ches- 
 terfield conceived — though the result showed tliat he 
 was wrong — that Walpole had actually been strength- 
 ened by his seeming success, and that the opposition 
 had been broken to pieces. Walpole's levee next 
 morning was indeed the largest he had ever been 
 known to hold, and he himself seems to have been 
 partly thrown off his guard ; but essentially his trium})h 
 was superficial only.^ 
 
 ' This once famous debate was tlie occasion of a very celebrated political 
 caricature called The Motion. The scene is Whitehall and the Treasury 
 
 Q 2
 
 228 LOIW CABTEBET 
 
 Walpole was safe for the time being ; but already 
 events were in progress wliicli would add strength to 
 the general outcry against him. The European crash 
 which had been expected to follow the Emperor Charles's 
 death had come without delay. Maria Theresa had 
 instantly been proclaimed successor to her father's 
 Austrian dominions ; but in less than two months after 
 the Emperor's death, Frederick of Prussia had invaded 
 Silesia. He declared his willingness to uphold the 
 
 Buildings, towards which a coach is being driven at full speed. Argyle is 
 coachman : — 
 
 ' Who be dat de box do sit on ? 
 'Tis John, the hero of North Briton, 
 Who, out of place, does placemen spit on.' 
 
 Chesterfield is postilion ; Bubb Uodiugton is a cur between his legs. The 
 passenger is Carteret : — 
 
 * But pi'ay who in de coache sit-a ? 
 'Tis honest Johnny Carteritta, 
 Who want in place again to get-a.' 
 
 The furious pace is threatening to overturn the coach, and Carteret is 
 crying : ' Let me get out ! ' Lean Lord Lyttelton is riding behind on a 
 lean hack : — 
 
 * Who's dat who ride astride de poney , 
 So long, so lank, so lean and boney ? 
 
 Oh ! he be the great orator, Little-Toney ! ' 
 
 Smallbrook, Bishop of Lichfield, bows humbly as they pass : 
 
 ' What parson's he dat bow so civil ? 
 Oh ! dat's de bishop who split de devil, 
 And made a devil and a half, and half a devil ! ' 
 
 In the foreground, on foot, is Pulteney, leading figures by strings from 
 their noses, and wheeling a barrow full of opposition writings, the Crafts- 
 vian, Common Sense, etc. He is exclaiming : * Zounds, they are over !' 
 
 ' Close by stands Billy, of all Bob's foes 
 The wittiest far in verse and prose ; 
 How he leads de puppies by de nose ! ' 
 
 < Tell me, dear,' writes Horace Walpole from Italy to his friend Conway, 
 ' now, who made the design, and who took the likenesses; they are admir- 
 able ; the lines are as good as one sees on such occasions.' The Cartoon is 
 reproduced in T. Wright's Caricature History of the Gcorfjcs, p. 128. JMany 
 editions of it were published, slightly varying in details.
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—FOBEIGN AFFAIBS 229 
 
 Pragmatic Sanction, and in the contest for tlie Empire 
 to vote for Maria's hnsbancl, tlie Grand Duke Francis ; 
 but the condition he required was the cession of Silesia, 
 and Maria would not hear of such a thing. Frederick 
 therefore advanced, first through deluges of rain, then 
 in hard frost ; and, finding practically no opposition, 
 was easily making himself master of Silesia. The ex- 
 citement caused by tliis in England Avas very great. 
 The people, who knew nothing of German histor}^, 
 passionately took up Maria's cause. In their eyes, she 
 was an interesting and much injured young Princess ; 
 and Frederick was a perfidious robber. George also, 
 though for different reasons, was eager on the same 
 side. He had given his word to Charles, and had 
 signed his Pragmatic Sanction ; and George, like his 
 father, was always a man of strict honesty to his pro- 
 mise. Above all, he had his own Hanover to think of; 
 the slightest disturbance in Germany always threw him 
 into a tremor of anxiety. English statesmen, too, and 
 politicians were generally for Maria, though many of 
 tliem would have been puzzled to say exactly why. 
 ]jut Carteret knew his reasons very well. It was not 
 in opposition to Frederick that Carteret su]:)ported llie 
 cause of Austria. He was always anxious to induce 
 Maria to come to terms with Frederick, and in little 
 more than a year after this date it was one of the 
 triumphs of his own ministry that he successfully ac- 
 complished this. But France was sure to interfere in 
 this internal German question. It Avas known that 
 France was about to break the Pragmatic Sanction ; 
 known, too, tliat slie would not have Maria's husband 
 as Emperor. Support of Maria Theresa was therefore 
 opposition to the designs of France in Germany ; and 
 Carteret's views could not for a moment be doubtful.
 
 230 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 On April 19, 1741, the King asked parliament 
 to assist him in supporting Maria Theresa, and next day 
 the question was debated. Argyle was cold. Why was 
 England to stand alone in support of the Pragmatic 
 Sanction ? Chesterfield opposed, with oblique hints at 
 the King's partiality for his German dominions. But 
 Carteret approved. ' If this be not done,' he said, 'the 
 Queen of Hungary will throw herself into the arms of 
 
 France This is a case of nobody's seeking ; it 
 
 arises from the Emperor's death. The King should 
 hazard all upon it, and we should stand by him. . . . 
 I do not look for popularity ; but am now on t]ie 
 popular side of the question. ... If the Austrian 
 dominions are parcelled, France gets enough Avithout 
 getting an acre of land. We say to France, if you 
 will keep your treaty, you cannot complain of us ; 
 if you will not, we are safer Avith open doings.' ^ 
 ' The Austrian thunder of my Lord Carteret,' Pitt 
 some months later in a letter to Chesterfield called 
 tliis speech.^ Neither Pitt nor Carteret knew at the 
 time that the tli under of artillery had already been 
 speaking in a far more em])]iatic manner than the 
 thunder of eloquence ever could. Ten days before this 
 debate there had been fought the first pitched battle in 
 that long war which, with various rests and breatliing 
 places, really lasted from 1740 to 1762. In drifting 
 snowy weather, and confused circumstances on both 
 sides, the Austrians and Prussians had fallen upon each 
 other ; and Frederick's victory liad made the battle of 
 Mollwitz the signal for a general European war. But 
 news from the Continent still travelled slowly, and it 
 was not until April 25 tliat London heard of the first 
 
 ' Seeker's Parliamentary MS. nt supra. 
 
 ^ Correspondence of the Earl of Chatham, I. 1. 

 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—FOBEIGN AFFAIBS 231 
 
 real stroke in the great struggle ; on wliicli very da}', 
 curiously enough, Parliament voted to Maria Theresa 
 a subsidy of three hundred thousand pounds. 
 
 But to subsidise the Queen of Hungary was by no 
 means enough for George, Parliament had readily 
 promised him the support he desired, and lie hoped, 
 though he was terribly disappointed, to strike decisively 
 into the quarrel at once. He hurried over in May 
 1741 to Hanover, attended by Secretary Harrington, 
 and was as eager as he always was to get to war. He 
 had a respectable army ; 6,000 Danes, 6,000 Hessians, 
 were ready for him on subsidy, and his own Hanoverian 
 forces made the total more than 30,000 men. Yet to 
 his disgust George found he could do nothinir. As a 
 first difficulty, it proved impossible to move the Dutch. 
 It took more than two years to persuade these exceed- 
 ingly heavy allies to stir. But even more perplexing 
 than this was the case of Hanover. In April 1741 
 Frederick had established a camp of 36,000 men at 
 Gottin, near Magdeburg, ready at once to fall upon 
 Hanover if quarrel should arise between George and 
 himself. So the King of England could not fight be- 
 cause he happened to be also Elector of Hanover. He 
 Avas effectively checkmated; and it was clear that so 
 long as Erederick remained Maria's active enem}^ George 
 would simply be unable to act at all. It became there- 
 fore his most pressing necessity to remove Frederick 
 from the scene of action. Diplomacj^ was set to work. 
 The English ambassador at Vienna, Sir Thomas Eobinson, 
 a heavy, dull man, still vaguely remembered for the 
 terrible .parliamentary worryings wliich later on lie 
 suffered from Pitt and Fox, urged and even implored 
 Maria to come to terais with her successful enemy. 
 Hyndford, the ambassador at Berlin, sought Frederick
 
 232 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 liiinself in liis camp near Mollwitz, and offered English 
 mediation to restore Germanic peace. But the two 
 ambassadors had two very determined young sovereigns 
 to deal with, and the efforts of diplomacy seemed hope- 
 lessly vain. Maria would not be moved ; and Frederick, 
 far from listening lo the arguments of Hyndford, made 
 in June a treaty with the French. The hand of France 
 interfering in Germany w^as first visible when, after this 
 treaty, the Elector of Bavaria appeared as a candidate 
 for the Empire. This was a second blow to Maria ; and 
 in such circumstances Robinson did succeed in per- 
 suading her to some faint compliance. In August he 
 hastened to Frederick, who was now at Strehlen, and 
 once more put before him the small concessions which 
 Maria was willing to make. It was quite useless. 
 Frederick, now sure of France, would have his Silesian 
 demands completely satisfied, and would not accept 
 anything less. He continued his own conquests in 
 Silesia ; and at the same time two French armies, 
 each of 40,000 men, entered Germany ; the one crossing 
 the Uj)per Rhine, to join the Elector of Bavaria and 
 march towards Vienna ; the other over the Lower 
 Rhine, to make for Hanover. 
 
 What could George do, either for himself or for 
 Maria? Clearly nothing but negotiate himself out of 
 his difficulties, and continue to urge Maria to do the 
 same. Very contrary to his own wislies, but seeing 
 there was no help for it, he agreed in September to 
 tlie neutrality of Hanover ; and tliougli for a time his 
 importunate attempts to mediate between Austria and 
 Prussia were an utter failure, in that same month 
 success appeared to be at last approaching. Maria 
 had personally appealed to Hungary, and had roused 
 passionate loyalty there. At tlie same time Frederick,
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—FOREIGN AFFAIRS 233 
 
 thoiigli the French were liis aUies, was really jealous of 
 their presence in Germany. England seized these two 
 openings as an opportunity for one more diplomatic 
 effort. By w^orking on Frederick s jealousy of France, 
 and by pressing upon Maria her need of a short time 
 of respite, the two English ambassadors successfully 
 brought the rivals to an agreement. Thus early in 
 October was made the secret treaty of Kleinschnellen- 
 dorf, Maria agreeing to cede to Frederick those parts 
 of Silesia which he already held, and Frederick accept- 
 ing peace, though mock hostilities were for a short time 
 to be continued, to blind and satisfy the French. 
 
 While these negotiations were employhig George 
 and Harrington at Hanover, a general election had 
 taken place in England. The feeling against Walpole 
 in the country was by this time very strong. Walpole 
 had been for twenty years uninterruptedly in power ; 
 every mistake, every failure that had marked the years 
 from 1721 to 1741, was, justly or unjustly, assigned to 
 him. In ecclesiastical afflxirs he had offended both 
 Cliurchmen and Dissenters. In parliamentary manage- 
 ment, his cynical frankness in corruption had often been 
 a little too much for a not very puritanical period. 
 His contemptuous neglect of literature luid enrolled all 
 the wits and men of letters ao;ainst him at a thne when 
 ])olitical pamphlets and news-letters and satires were 
 lead all ovej- the Idngdom. So early as 1727 Swift 
 wrote of Walpole that ' he has none but beasts and 
 blockheads for his penmen.' ^ But his one unj^ardon- 
 able offence was his conduct in the Spanish war. He 
 had not declared war till resignation of his own power 
 was his only alternative ; and when, after Vernon's one 
 success at Porto Bello, the military management sank 
 
 ' Swift to Dr. Sheridan; ^May 13, 1727. Swift's Works, XVIT. 107.
 
 234 LORD CABTERET 
 
 into a dreary round of inaction, failure, and confused 
 ineffectiveness — tlie natural result of official incapacity 
 and of the usual chaotic mismanao:einent of the English 
 fighting departments. — the angry irritation of the people 
 instinctively blamed tlie minister who was known to 
 have no real heart in the business which he nominally 
 directed. The fleet in the Mediterranean did abso- 
 lutely nothing. Vernon's expedition against Cartagena, 
 from which so much had been expected, had gone to 
 utter ruin and almost disgrace. And the country, 
 which had so eagerly adopted the cause of Maria 
 Theresa, felt itself further humiliated by the Hanover 
 neutrality and by the rather unheroic way in which 
 George's first continental attempt had terminated. 
 Prom a general election held in such circumstances, 
 Walpole could not expect any very great success, and he 
 seems at this time, very contrary to his usual habit, to 
 have been full of personal anxieties. His son Horace, 
 writing in October 1741, says that he v/ho 'was asleep 
 as soon as his head touched the pilloAv, for I have 
 frequently known him snore ere they had drawn his 
 curtains, now never sleeps above an hour without 
 waking ; and he who at dinner always forgot he was 
 minister, and was more gay and thoughtless than all his 
 company, now sits without speaking, and Avith his eyes 
 fixed for an hour together. Judge if this is the Sir 
 Eobert you knew.' ^ 
 
 In October the King and Harrinorton returned from 
 Hanover, and early in December the newly elected 
 parliament met. From tlie \Qvy first it was clear that 
 Walpole was surely falling. Very severe things were 
 said against his Government. 'I see many motives for 
 censure, none for approbation, all for distrust,' said 
 
 1 n. Walpole to :\rann: Oct. 10, 1741.
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE—FOBEIGN AFFAIRS 235 
 
 Chesterfield. Instead of an address of thanks, HaUfax 
 sufjo-ested an address of condolence as more suitable 
 to the occasion. 'A thing is said in the speech,' said 
 Carteret, ' which I am sure the King believes, . . . and 
 yet I would not confirm him in it. He says he has 
 done all he could for the House of Austria. We shall 
 be able to make him change his opinion.' Yet even in 
 the gloomy condition of things Carteret saw what he 
 called some glimmerings of hope ; hope that the King of 
 Prussia might take alarm at the progress of the French ; 
 hope from the King of Sardinia; hope even from the 
 exceedingly laggard Dutch. Every one of tliese hopes 
 was in time realised. But Carteret, now as always, 
 had strong objections to mere pleasing, flattering 
 words which did not really correspond to the facts of 
 the case. ' It is fact we must see,' he declared, and he 
 felt not the slightest disposition to compliment the 
 Government on its military or diplomatic situation. 
 What was the use of words ? ' There were strono^ 
 words in tlie last address about the Queen of Hungary ; 
 l)ut tliey did her no good, and slie will not mind these 
 now.' ^ 
 
 In tlie Commons the attack on Walpole was violent 
 and very personal. Instead of returning thanks for the 
 conduct of tlie Spanisli war, the opposition indignantly 
 compelled the minister to omit from tlie address the 
 slio;htest reference to tliat imbrosjlio of mismanagement 
 and disaster. Pulteney made wliat Horace Walpole is 
 compelled to admit was a fine speecli ; but it was also 
 an exceedingly keen personal attack. Pulteney even 
 ventured, to accuse Walpole not merely of errors or 
 indifference, but actually of treachery and collusion 
 with tlie enemy. Walpole, who had thoroughl}^ re- 
 
 ' Seeker's Parliamentary ^IS. uf supra.
 
 23G LOUD CABTEBET 
 
 covered his liealtli and spirits, spoke for an lioiir in reply 
 and self-defence. Yet in spite of all the heat and 
 rhetoric there was no division. Dividing is not the 
 way to multiply, said Pnlteney with a mild witticism. 
 But one decision was taken. Walpole challenged Pul- 
 teney, who had loaded him with abuse, to name a day 
 for investigating the charges brought against him, and 
 declared that he himself would second the proposal. 
 Pulteney at once accepted, and the great debate was 
 fixed for January 21, 1742. 
 
 But before this day could arrive there were repeated 
 signs that Walpole's fall was close at hand. The meet- 
 ing of the new parliament was, as usual, followed by 
 the inevitable debatings over many election petitions ; 
 debates which were always decided as simple questions 
 of party politics, without any regard to the merits of 
 each case. In one of these divisions Walpole could 
 only muster a majority of seven. In another, a few 
 days later, he lost even this scanty support, and the 
 opposition triumphed by four. Yet ' Sir Eobert is in 
 great spirits and still sanguine,' wrote his son on this 
 very day. Before Christmas Day Walpole was again 
 defeated over the once famous Westminster election 
 petition. ' AVe sat till half an hour after four,' Horace 
 wrote to his friend Mann on Christmas Eve, ' the 
 longest day that ever was known,' says he in those 
 primitive parliamentary times. ' Sir Eobert was as 
 well as ever, and spoke with as much spirit as ever at 
 four o'clock. ... As he came out. Whitehead, the 
 author of Manners^ and agent, with one Carey, a sur- 
 geon, for the opposition, said, " Damn him, how well he 
 looks ! " ' That was a curious old parliamentary scene ; 
 the ' honourable gentleman iu the blue ribband,' in the 
 dark small hours of a December morning, defeated yet 
 undaunted, cominir out of the House where he had been
 
 I 
 
 OPPOSITION TO WALPOLE -FOREIGN AFFAIRS 237 
 
 master for twenty years ; and beside him an enraged 
 opposition, relieving its feelings in the dialect of tlie 
 day. These last few weeks of Walpole's political power 
 are the only period in his whole career during which 
 it is possible to feel any personal enthusiasm for him. 
 There is something decidedly attractive in the big, 
 brave way in which he held up against tlie shoal of his 
 enemies. 'He is a brave fellow ; he has more spirit 
 than any man I ever knew,' once said brave httle 
 George of his useful Prime Minister. 
 
 The day for Pulteney's debate came, and the Com- 
 mons showed the fullest House that had been known 
 for years. Sick and dying men, in flannel, on crutches, 
 were brought dowm to vote. Walpole's son Eobert, 
 Lord Walpole, whose house adjoined the House of 
 Commons, had taken there two or three members who 
 were too ill to go through by Westminster Hall, and 
 meant to pass them in by his own door. The opposi- 
 tion stopped the key-hole with sand. Five hundred 
 and three members voted, and Pulteney was defeated 
 by a majority of three. Though such a paltry Govern- 
 ment victory was really a defeat, Walpole would not 
 resign, but held on, seemingly in the best of spirits, 
 against the advice of his family and private friends. 
 But parliamentary rebuffs continued, and Walpole at 
 last agreed that one more election question should be 
 made the conclusive test. On the first stage of this 
 petition Walpole was defeated by one vote. In the 
 next division, the result was more decisively against 
 him ; and on February 13 he declared, as he left the 
 House, that he would never again sit in it. Next day 
 the King adjourned parliament for a fortnight, and 
 before the Houses met again Walpole had resigned all 
 his employments and had been raised to the peerage as 
 Earl of Orford.
 
 238 LORD CAETEBET 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 POWEE. 
 1742-1744. 
 
 Even before tliefallof Walpole, one member of liis own 
 Government had secretly attempted to come to terms 
 w^itli the opposition. Personal political intrigue was 
 tlie one science of which the Duke of Newcastle was 
 an easy master. ' His name is perfidy,' said Walj)ole 
 once. As early as the Porteous affair, Newcastle had 
 been sniffing about Carteret in an uneasy sort of way, 
 with a dim, dull foreboding that Carteret would pro- 
 bably soon rise very high indeed ; and when the re- 
 moval of Walpole became a question of days or hours 
 only, Newcastle privately sought to negotiate himself 
 into security witli tlie leading men of the new arrange- 
 ment. He wrote to Pulteney tliat he had a royal 
 message for him, and asked Pulteney to meet him in 
 strict secrecy. But Pulteney was far t(30 prudent to 
 enter into underhand communications with a man like 
 Newcastle. He refused to receive any message by 
 stealth and in the dark ; Newcastle might come, if he 
 liked, to Pulteney's own house, by daylight, and in 
 sight of all his servants. At this point Walpole inter- 
 vened, anxious to do, with the knowledge of his col- 
 leagues, what Newcastle iiad unsuccessfully attempted 
 by private intrigue. Walpole was with very good
 
 POWER 230 
 
 reason alarmed for liis own personal safety. Lenity in 
 politics had not yet become a favourite notion ; AValpole 
 himself had been a parliamentary prisoner in the Tower. 
 Political excitement was now running higher than at 
 any time since the bursting of the South Sea Bubble, 
 and the cry for an impeachment was very loud and 
 persistent. ' Downing Street or the Tower,' was Horace 
 Walpole's Uvely way of stating the probabilities of tlie 
 ease in the last days of his father's struggle in parlia- 
 ment. In such circumstances, Walpole had the best 
 possible reason for attempting to bargain with his 
 opponents before he positively laid down his power. 
 Ten days before he resigned, Walpole began his 
 arrangements, and during the fortnight's adjournment 
 he busily continued them. The King knew that the 
 successful opposition was not a united and harmonious 
 party ; and lie himself, in language suggested by Wal- 
 pole, said to Pulteney : ' As soon as I found you were 
 at variance among yourselves, I saw that I had tico 
 shops to deal ivith, and I rather chose to come to you, 
 because I knew that your aim was only directed against 
 my minister, but I did not know but the Duke of Argyle 
 wanted to be King himself.' ^ The King personally dis- 
 liked Pulteney ; but Walpole succeeded in overcoming 
 that, and so gained his first point. A royal message 
 was entrusted to Newcastle and Lord Chancellor Hard- 
 wicke, and Pulteney agreed publicly to receive it ; only 
 stipulating that, as Hardwicke was to be with New- 
 castle, he himself should be accompanied by Carteret. 
 The four accordingly met at Pulteney 's house. Yet at 
 first the negotiation was quite unsuccessful. The royal 
 offer proposed that Pulteney should succeed Walpole 
 
 * Report of a couversation with Pulteney ; Add. MSS. 18,915 ; fol. 
 28-29.
 
 240 LOBD CARTEBET 
 
 as Prime Minister. This in itself was not likely to be 
 accepted ; for Pulteney had frequently declared that he 
 would never again take office. And even this proposal 
 was clogged witli a condition. The offer was only made 
 on the understanding that there should be no prosecu- 
 tion of WaljDole. To this Pulteney at once refused to 
 agree. He was not, he said, bloodthirsty, but it was 
 beyond his power to bind his party to any such ar- 
 rangement. On such terms nothing could be done. 
 Newcastle found himself thirsty, and asked for wine. 
 It was evening, and champagne was brought in ; ^ New- 
 castle drank to their happier meeting. Pulteney smi- 
 lingly said that he would drink to Newcastle in the 
 w ords of Shakespeare's Brutus : — 
 
 If we do meet again, wliy, we shall smile ; 
 If not, why then, this meeting was well made. 
 
 Walpole thus failed to secure Pulteney for Premier ; 
 and it seems probable, though the accounts are confused 
 and contradictory, that Pulteney desired Carteret to 
 take the post. It is probable too that Carteret, while 
 perfectly willing to serve under Pulteney, considered 
 his own claims the highest after Pulteney 's refusal. It 
 is not clear whether Walpole objected to this. He need 
 not have feared Carteret personally ; Carteret was a rare 
 instance of an eighteenth-century statesman absolutely 
 free from vi-ndictiveness. In any case, the offer was 
 not made. The King, when Pulteney declined the office 
 for himself, desired that his old friend Sir Spencer 
 Compton, now Lord Wilmington, might be allowed to 
 slide into it. To put Wilmington at the head of a 
 Cabinet which included Carteret and Pulteney was an 
 arrangement which might have been quoted as a pre- 
 
 ' Cliaotic Coxe says it was forenoon and negus !
 
 I 
 
 POWER 241 
 
 cedent for making Pitt and Fox subordinates of Sir 
 Thomas Eobinson. Pulteney, liowever, agreed ; saying 
 to Carteret, who probably did not conceal his dissatis- 
 faction : ' You must be Secretary of State, as the fittest 
 person to direct foreign affairs.' For himself Pulteney 
 only required a peerage and a seat in the Cabinet with- 
 out the seals of any department. On these conditions 
 an arrangement was accomplished. Some of Walpole's 
 old colleagues, Newcastle, Pelham, Lord Hardwicke, con- 
 tinued to hold their offices ; some, like Hervey, were dis- 
 missed ; some, like Wilmington and Harrington, changed 
 their places. The other half of the Grovernment repre- 
 sented the victorious opposition. Sandys, a rather in- 
 significant man, whose ability to spell was considered an 
 open question, became Chancellor of the Exchequer ; 
 Carteret's friend Winch elsea took the Admiralty ; Argyle, 
 with a good deal of angry discontent, the War Office. 
 Pulteney became an unattached member of the Cabinet. 
 Carteret himself received the seals which Harrington 
 resigned, and officially was designated Secretary of State 
 for the Northern department ; but every one understood 
 that Wilmington was a mere cypher, and that Carteret 
 was really the Prime Minister. The Government was 
 always spoken of as his. 
 
 But before the new arrangements had reached even 
 this elementary settlement, internal difficulties threat- 
 ened a troubled career to the new administration. The 
 opposition which overthrew Walpole had itself been a 
 conglomeration of political parties. Every one of these 
 thought itself entitled to share the spoils, and every one 
 of them was discontented when its claims were over- 
 looked. Carteret and Pulteney were the leaders of the 
 discontented Whigs or Patriots ; yet some of this party, 
 as Chesterfield, were dissatisfied because they had not 
 
 E
 
 242 LORD CARTERET 
 
 been called to council or offered places. They were 
 offended at the evident superiority of Carteret. The 
 Tories were offended when it became clear that they 
 themselves were to have a very trifling share of in- 
 fluence, and that the Jacobites were to have absolutely 
 none. The Whigs of the Prince of Wales's party were 
 discontented ; some, with the places assigned to them ; 
 others, like Pitt, Lyttelton, and the Grenvilles, because 
 they had no places at all. These parties had all 
 willingly enough united to remove Walpole from 
 power ; but as soon as the one object on which they 
 were agreed was attained, they flew asunder again into 
 discordant groups. The rumour that the necessary 
 negotiations had been entrusted to Carteret and Pulteney 
 threw them all into violent agitation. The news that 
 the chief posts in the Government had already been dis- 
 posed of filled them with impotent passion. They de- 
 clared that they had been betrayed ; and on February 22, 
 the very day of Walpole's resignation, and the day 
 before Carteret received the seals, they assembled in 
 full force to give vent to their indignation. At the 
 Fountain, a tavern in the Strand much used for poli- 
 tical purposes, between two and three hundred mem- 
 bers of both Houses met, and after dinner relieved 
 themselves of much angry eloquence. They invited 
 Carteret and Pulteney to be present. Carteret would 
 not go, saying that he never dined at a tavern ; but 
 Pulteney went, only to hear himself abused. Argyle 
 sjDoke with his usual passion. Using the cant phrase 
 of the day, he declared that the Government should be 
 formed upon a Broad Bottom, and that room must be 
 made for all of them by dismissing every member of 
 Walpole's administration. One enthusiast, who at least 
 ought to have been a very young man, expressed the
 
 POWER 243 
 
 same thing witli a pleasantly classical flavour, and drank 
 to cleansing the Augean stable of the dung and grooms. 
 Argyle sneered at the opposition leaders who had al- 
 ready accepted office ; angrily said of Pulteuey — who 
 was exceedingly rich — that a grain of honesty was worth 
 a cartload of gold ; and warmly demanded the prosecu- 
 tion of Walpole. To all this abuse Pulteney replied 
 with spirit, but with moderation ; and the meeting 
 broke up in an excited and angry condition. 
 
 If Walpole wished, as very probably he had intended, 
 to stir up dissensions in the ranks of his opponents, 
 he had already very fairly succeeded. Already there 
 seemed a dangerous possibility that the heterogeneous 
 forces of opposition would attempt to annihilate one 
 another. To secure something like an harmonious under- 
 standing, a meeting of the chief leaders was held under 
 the soothing mediatorship of the Prince of Wales. Pul- 
 teney quietly declared that the real power of the Go- 
 vernment was in the hands of its new members, and that 
 entirely to get rid of the friends of Walpole was, at that 
 crisis, simply impossible. Even passionate Argyle seemed 
 to see the truth and force of this. When the Prince 
 declared his own satisfaction with the arrangements 
 which Carteret and Pulteney had made, Argyle, for 
 all his bitterness, consented to join the Government ; 
 demanding only that for the Tory Sir John Cotton a 
 place also should be found. An open rupture thus 
 seemed to have been avoided, and when parliament re- 
 sumed after its fortnight's adjournment, the late opposi- 
 tion appeared as one united party. But this union was on 
 the surface only. When the final official arrangements 
 were announced, it was found that after all there was no 
 appointment for Cotton. The King had declared that 
 he was determined to stand by those who had set his 
 
 R 2
 
 2U LORD CABTEBET 
 
 family on the throne, and positively declined to accept 
 the Tory. This was too much for 'Argyle. He had 
 already made no secret of his dissatisfaction with the 
 Government of which he was himself a member. Glover, 
 the merchant-poet, known as ' Leonidas ' Glover, from 
 the name of a so-called epic which he had produced at 
 the age of five-and-twenty, had found Argyle one day 
 pacing up and down his room and thundering against 
 Carteret as his enemy. ^ Argyle now resigned, and 
 went into bitter opposition. He even wrote to Orford, 
 and offered to assist him in demolishing their common 
 eneni)'-, the new ministry.^, Pulteney long afterwards 
 told Lord Shelburne that it was impossible to under- 
 stand or describe the confusion that prevailed at that 
 political crisis ; that he himself lost his head, and was 
 obliged to go out of town for three or four days to keep 
 his senses.^ He returned to London only to hear that 
 there was already a split in the new Government. 
 
 The personal details of the formation of a Govern- 
 ment, the rivalries and jealousies, the fightings for stars 
 and ribbands and places, had never much interest for 
 Carteret. Unfortunately, perhaps, for his own political 
 advantage, he was very contemptuous of all that, and 
 had his mind set on other things. 'In the upper depart- 
 ments of Government he had not his equal,' Pitt said of 
 Carteret long after Carteret's death. The destinies of 
 Europe, the motions of armies, the policy of statesmen, 
 were Carteret's department ; he very willingly let the 
 provincialisms of politics alone. He had come into 
 power at a very anxious time. The Treaty of Klein- 
 schnellendorf, by which Maria had freed herself from 
 
 * Glover's Memoirs of a Celebrated Liter m-y and Political Character, 
 
 ■' Add. MSS. 9,224; fol. 2. 
 
 ^ Shelburne's Autobioyrajjhi/ ; Fitzmaurice's Shelburne, I. 46.
 
 POWEB 245 
 
 the active opposition of Prussia, had proved a very- 
 temporary affair. It had removed Frederick from the 
 scene, but it left the French free to act as they pleased. 
 While the one French army had, by threatening Han- 
 over, checkmated George and sent him home neutral, 
 the other had pushed on down the Danube, and joined 
 the Elector of Bavaria, who hoped soon to be Emperor. 
 They advanced as far as Linz ; it seemed their destina- 
 tion was Vienna itself. Vienna was in great alarm, but 
 was relieved when, at Linz, its enemies altered their line 
 of march, and turned off direct north to Bohemia. Leav- 
 ing only a small number of men in the Linz regions to 
 hold their conquests on the Danube, French, Bavarians, 
 and Saxons all made for the North, to meet again at 
 Prag. And they took Prag ; but there for the time 
 their successes ended. Maria's husband, the Grand 
 Duke Francis, also marched for Bohemia ; and the 
 Austrian general Khevenhiiller moved from Vienna to 
 look after the French forces that had been left behind 
 on the Danube. He recovered Linz itself, retaking it 
 on January 24, 1742, the very day on which the Elector 
 of Bavaria became Emperor Charles VH. But the new 
 Emperor had already appealed for help to Frederick, and 
 Frederick was ready, for he had only granted the Treaty 
 of Kleinschnellendorf on the condition of absolute 
 secrecy, and Austria had paid very temporary regard 
 to this stipulation. Frederick therefore rejoined his 
 allies, and decided, in union with the French and Saxons, 
 to seize Moravia, and if possible sweep down upon 
 Vienna itself. The plan was no doubt admirable ; yet 
 the Moravian expedition turned out a complete failure. 
 The French and Saxons gave Frederick endless trouble ; 
 the Saxons were very backward and unwilling ; the 
 French actually left him. Still he pressed on ; but in
 
 240 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 such circumstances could not take Briinn, the strong- 
 hold of Moravia, and soon found himself forced to an 
 unwilling retreat. 
 
 It was just when Austrian affairs were in this greatly 
 improved condition, when the French had turned aside 
 from Vienna, when Khevenhuller was doing well on the 
 Danube, when Pandours were entering the Emperor's 
 own Bavaria, when the Saxons and the French were 
 deserting Frederick, and when Frederick himself was 
 about to retreat from Moravia, that the change in the 
 English Government brought Carteret into power. He 
 was foreign minister ; practically he was also Prime 
 Minister. He was by no means anxious for war, but he 
 knew his own mind, and was desirous to start his policy 
 with a clear understanding;. In March 1742 he had an 
 interview with the French ambassador, and while he 
 frankly told him that England would not consent to tlie 
 overthrow of the House of Austria, lie desired that the 
 French Government should also plainly declare its in- 
 tentions, that, if possible, the two countries might work 
 togetlier. The ambassador duly reported this to his 
 master Fleury, and Fleury wrote to Frederick : ' Voire 
 majeste aura juge aisement par tous les discours de my 
 Lord Carteret, quHl voudroit se rendre mediateiir, etfaire 
 reprendre au roy son nuutre ^influence quil avoit eue 
 dans toutes les affaires de l' Europe, et je suis Men assure 
 (pie rien necltappera pas ses luniieresJ ^ In tliat opinion 
 Fleury was perfectly correct ; nothing would or did 
 escape Carteret's ' lights,' and Frederick also was soon 
 aware of tliat. It was very early evident that Carteret's 
 foreign policy was a factor which European Kings 
 and statesmen would have to consider with respectful 
 attention. 
 
 1 Add. MSS. 22,542 ; fol. 51, V. March 20, 1742.
 
 POWER 247 
 
 Carteret's decisive determination, resting upon un- 
 rivalled political knowledge, was backed up by a 
 warlike King and an eager nation. Half a million was 
 at once voted for the support of Maria Theresa. The 
 cause of the House of Austria was recognised as the 
 cause of public good faith and security, and, strangely 
 as such a thing sounds in these later days, as the cause 
 of hberty. When Prince William of Hesse urged upon 
 Carteret that England should take no active part in the 
 continental quarrel, Carteret would not listen for a 
 moment, but declared that it was both the glory and 
 the duty of England to support the Empire against the 
 ambitious interference of France. But Carteret clearly 
 saw that one preliminary step was almost essential. 
 Austria must make peace with Frederick. Carteret had 
 seen this from the first. He had said in Parliament 
 months before that if he had been in power a recon- 
 ciliation between Prussia and Austria would have been 
 his first care. Now that power was his, he was true to 
 his old opinion. In his despatches to the ambassadors 
 abroad he never wearied in pressing this view upon 
 them.^ The detachment of Frederick from the alliance 
 with France would, he urged, be a fatal stroke to all 
 the French schemes in Germany. And he was very 
 hopeful of accomplishing it ; for he shrewdly saw that 
 Frederick's most earnest prayer might soon be a prayer 
 for deliverance from his so-called friends. The French 
 were certainly not at all minded to overthrow Austria 
 in order to put Prussia in its place. Belleisle and the 
 rather doubtful characters at the French Court, who 
 had entered so eagerly into his scheme for partitioning 
 
 ' The statements made in this chapter regarding Carteret's own opinions 
 and policy, and the quotations from his own lanirnaiie, are almost entireh^ 
 from his voluminous MS. correspondence in the British Museum. It is 
 not desirable to load the page with references in each particular case.
 
 248 LORD CARTERET 
 
 Germany and making it little more than a hanger-on of 
 Versailles, had little enthusiasm and less practical help 
 to lavish on an ail)% except when it entirely suited their 
 own convenience. Frederick was already feeling this 
 in his unfortunate Moravian expedition ; and at the 
 end of April 1742 the Earl of Stair, who had suc- 
 ceeded Argyle at the War Office, and had gone over 
 to the Hague to attempt to rouse the Dutch to some- 
 thing like energy, wrote home to Carteret : ' 'Tis certain 
 at this time his Prussian majesty is very sick of the 
 French.' So Carteret was hopeful ; the one possible 
 difficulty was his acknowledged inability as yet definitely 
 to answer the question : What is the real character of 
 this new King of Prussia ? No complete answer was at 
 this time possible for foreign or even for Prussian ob- 
 servers ; many of the attempted replies were ludicrous 
 failures. Horace Walpole with easy infallibility was 
 just laying it down to his friend Mann that Frederick's 
 personal cowardice was a well-established fact. Car- 
 teret's estimate is reall}^ true as far as it goes, and is 
 interesting as the admittedly imperfect opinion of one 
 of the keenest political observers in Europe. He writes 
 to the English ambassador, Hyndford, at Berlin : ' From 
 what we know of his [Frederick's] character, the way 
 in which you can hope to make any lasting impression 
 on him is pointing out to him his interest and his 
 danger, rather than that of courtship and exhortation 
 from any other principles. . . . Negotiating with him 
 we hold to be extremely dangerous, and your Lordship 
 must have the greatest guard upon yourself in con- 
 ferring with him.' 
 
 While Carteret was writing this letter, Frederick 
 was retreating from Moravia. Here was another of 
 what Carteret called Maria's unexpected happy sue-
 
 POWER 249 
 
 cesses. The King of Prussia, practically abandoned by 
 his allies, made his way to Bohemia, there to await 
 Maria's brother, Prince Charles, and his pursuing Aus- 
 trians. Yet when Frederick's situation seemed most 
 unfortunate he had a decided deliverance. Prince 
 Charles entered Bohemia, and on May 17, 1742, fought 
 the battle known indifferently by the names of Chotu- 
 sitz and Czaslau. From the military point of view, the 
 Austrians might perhaps have been more completely 
 defeated, but on the political side Frederick might well 
 be perfectly satisfied. Maria could no longer refuse to 
 consider terms of peace. The English Government re- 
 ceived the news of the battle with great concern, and at 
 once spoke importunately at Vienna. From Frederick 
 himself there came to the Prussian minister in London 
 a letter, dated two days after the battle, containing an 
 offer which was to be communicated to Carteret alone. 
 The minister would not venture to give to Carteret a 
 word of it in writing ; ' and was so terrified with being 
 made responsible wdth his head for the secret of this 
 overture, that I could only obtain from him to let me 
 take down in writinji from his mouth the most material 
 passage.' This was the passage in which Frederick de- 
 clared that he could not himself take up arms against 
 the French, who were nominally at least his allies ; but 
 also asserted his complete willingness to make peace 
 with Maria, ' >z on peut porter la reine cCHongrie a 
 m'accorder des conditions avantageuses ; ' ^ in other 
 words, if the Queen would sanction the cession of 
 Silesia, Andrie, the Prussian ambassador, was ordered 
 to report Carteret's reply in his very words, and Carte- 
 ret spoke therefore very cautiously. But he agreed 
 that Vienna ought to grant Frederick ' advantageous 
 
 ' Carteret to Robinson; May 28, 1742. Add. MSS. 22,529; fol. 30.
 
 250 LORD CARTERET 
 
 conditions,' and promised that England would continue 
 to press Maria to consent. 
 
 Eeluctantly, but seeing there was no help for it, 
 Maria yielded, and granted the peace which Frederick 
 required. The arrangements were entrusted to the 
 English ambassador, Hyndford, who went to Frederick 
 at Breslau to settle all details with the due formalities. 
 Hyndford was soon successful. On June 11 the 
 Treaty of Breslau was signed ; Silesia was ceded to 
 Frederick, and Austria and Prussia were at peace. 
 ' The greatest blow" that France has received since the 
 happy accession of the House of Hanover to the crown 
 of Great Britain,' wrote Hyndford gladly to Carteret, 
 two days after the signing ; and Carteret also called it 
 a great and happy event. Frederick himself was pro- 
 fuse in compliments to Carteret over the matter ; a 
 work worthy, said Frederick, of Carteret's ministry and 
 of Carteret's own '' gi^andes lumieres.' In his Histoire 
 de mon Temps^ Frederick expressly says : ' Le Lord 
 Carteret fut le j)rincipal promoteur de cet ouvrage.' It 
 was indeed a very satisfactory beginning of the minis- 
 ter's power, and it gained him great popularity in 
 England. ' Lord Carteret,' wrote one of the permanent 
 Government officials, ' gains great esteem and ground 
 by his resolution and unshaken fermete, and will carry 
 matters, I doubt not, in such a channel that the people 
 will be, as they daily are, more and more pleased.' ^ 
 The Earl of Bentinck wrote from the Hague to his 
 mother, the Countess Dowager of Portland : ' I assure 
 you that if Lord Carteret is the man that advised send- 
 ing troops into Flanders, it is very much for his honour. 
 .... And it was certainly a mighty well-judged 
 
 1 Mr. Porter to Robinson at Vienna; June 14, 1742. Add. MSS. 
 9,180; fol. 113.
 
 POWER 251 
 
 tiling to show that one is in earnest in the defence 
 of the House of Austria. ... I heartily wish Lord 
 Carteret good success in all his undertakings. He is in 
 the right way as to foreign affairs. I have seen some of 
 his despatches both in English and in French, and not 
 without admiration as to the principles and sentiments, 
 as well as for the turn and style, but above all for 
 the vigour and spirit, which must save Europe at 
 23resent.' ^ 
 
 Maria's chief enemy was thus removed ; and the 
 French and Bavarians, left standing; alone aijainst 
 Austria, had meanwhile been faring badly enough. 
 Khevenhtiller, since he took Linz, had seized Passau 
 and Munich, and was master of all Bavaria south of the 
 Danube ; and the French, who had indeed taken Prag, 
 were now shut up and themselves besieged in it. 
 Could not England now, thought Carteret, strike in 
 energetically, and make her second attemj)t to support 
 the Queen more successful than the first had proved ? 
 Carteret, even before these fortunate events, had re- 
 solved at least to try. Stair, the Commander-in-Chief, 
 held high views of attacking the French frontier 
 towards the Netherlands, of reducing Dunkirk, and 
 even penetrating through an undefended country to 
 Paris. Sixteen thousand Enghsh troops were to join the 
 Dutch in the Netherlands ; George's own Hanoverians 
 Avere 16,000 more, and 6,000 Hessians were bound to 
 England by subsidy. With Maria's contribution of 
 14,000 men, the united English and Austrians would 
 number 52,000 in the Lowlands. Reinforced by the 
 promised 20,000 Dutch, the force would be really more 
 than respectable. But the terribly laggard Dutch were 
 the one dark and doubtful spot. Their Government 
 
 ' June 22, 1742. Brit. Mus. Egerton MSS. ; 1,712 ; fol. 252.
 
 252 LOBD CARTEBET 
 
 had been discussing and protesting and promising for 
 weary months back, and httle had come of the ahnost 
 frantic efforts of diplomacy but endless despatches and 
 infinite futility. Only a few days after he had come 
 into power, Carteret had received from Trevor, the 
 English ambassador at the Hague, the welcome news 
 that Holland had really resolved to be active ; but 
 between resolving and carrying out resolutions there 
 was evidently room for much. A very few days later 
 Trevor had to write that there was a party in Holland 
 which would take alarm at any proposal that was not 
 as insipid and insignificant as water-gruel. Now the 
 new, vigorous English Government, resolute to spare 
 no effort, sent over the Earl of Stair as ambassador 
 extraordinary, to see if Holland would not act a httle 
 more, and talk a little less. Stair was able to give the 
 Dutch substantial proof of England's earnestness in 
 the cause, for parliament had voted the half-milhon 
 to Maria on the day on which he left England. And 
 at first it even seemed possible that Stair might be 
 successful. 
 
 In England itself the military activity was great. 
 A camp was established on Lexden Heath, near Col- 
 chester, and frequent reviews were held, to the huge 
 delight of military George and his corpulent son, the 
 Duke of Cumberland ; for Cumberland also fancied 
 himself a soldier of genius, and made England pay con- 
 siderably for that pleasant notion. In May the English 
 troops began to embark in the transports at Gravesend ; 
 the first instalment of them reached Ostend before that 
 month was over. ' We send our forces over as fast as 
 possible,' wrote Carteret in June to Stair, ' to be under 
 your command, and our affairs are brought to a much 
 better consistency than I could have hoped for in so
 
 POWER 253 
 
 short a time. . . , Our measures give satisfaction at 
 home, as all the world now sees that we are no longer 
 to be led by France.' ^ All through the summer the 
 troops continued to cross the sea, and the 22,000 
 Hanoverians and Hessians were ready to march into 
 Flanders to join them. Surely now the Dutch, seeing 
 38,000 men in British pay, and Maria's 14,000 ready 
 also to take part, would throw off their heavy sluggish- 
 ness, and at last co-operate in reality. In spite of all 
 England's efforts, it seemed that after all they would 
 not. In this same month of June Stair had to write to 
 Carteret that not a Dutchman had been in Trevor's 
 house for a month ; and the well-meaning, though 
 always slightly impracticable, old soldier — he was now 
 seventy years old — began to ask himself if it was worth 
 while to stay among such a sluggishly ponderous people 
 any longer. ' I shall never desire to eat the King's 
 bread when I cannot be useful to his service. When- 
 ever that happens, my Lord,' he wrote to Carteret, ' I 
 shall desire to return to my plough, whence your Lord- 
 ship knows I came unwillingly.' 
 
 It was exactly in these very June days, while 
 English statesmen could do little but gaze imploringly 
 with a kind of despairing hope at their exceedingly 
 lethargic allies, that the Treaty of Breslau was success- 
 fully accomplished. Even the rather despondent Stair 
 had reckoned that the heavy Dutchmen would stir if 
 only Maria and Frederick could be brought to terms. 
 Here, now, Avas this actually accomplished ; yet the 
 Dutch remained as stolid and immovable as ever. It 
 was exceedingly provoking, for something really im- 
 portant might have marked the next few weeks if there 
 had been anything like cheerful co-operation. Maille- 
 
 1 J. M. Graham's Stair, II. 286.
 
 254 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 bois and his rreiich, wlio had so lonij been threaten- 
 ing Hanover, had left Germany altogether when the 
 new English administration was seen to be in earnest, 
 and had marched for Dunkirk, anticipating a possible 
 English attack there. But now, in August, Maillebois 
 received sudden orders to quit Dunkirk and hasten to 
 the help of the French besieged in Prag. Carteret 
 could hardly believe this news when first he heard it. 
 The departure of the French left the road to Paris 
 perfectly open — not a French soldier between Paris 
 and the English army. From another point of view, 
 however, Carteret strongly disliked this proceeding of 
 Maillebois, and writing to Hyndford he says that ' it 
 appears to his majesty to be high time to put an end 
 to these inroads of the French upon Germany, and to 
 clear the Empire of those already there.' At the same 
 time the movement of the French seemed to offer 
 England a decided military chance. Could not, at the 
 very least, the Dunkirk question be once for all settled ? 
 Or could not the allied armies give a good account of 
 Maillebois if he should attempt to return there ? George 
 himself, now that at last there seemed a prospect of 
 fighting instead of arguing, would go over to put him- 
 self at the head of his troops : — 
 
 Give us our fiddle ; we ourselves will play ; 
 
 as the opposition journals unkindly quoted. Carteret 
 was to accompany the King, who seemed bent upon the 
 undertaking ; the royal baggage and saddle-horses did 
 actually get as far as Gravesend ; but they got no 
 farther. It had been intended that Carteret should 
 take the Hague in his way, and find out once for 
 all what could or could not be done with the remark- 
 able people there. But in tlie end it was decided
 
 POWER 255 
 
 that Carteret, after visiting the Dutch statesmen, 
 should return to London before the King left Eng- 
 land ; and it was quite well understood that the King's 
 proposed visit to the Continent would chiefly depend 
 upon the reports which Carteret brought home with 
 him. 
 
 Carteret arrived at the Hague on October 5, 1742. 
 All the difficulties which he would meet with from the 
 Dutch official people were represented to him on his 
 arrival ; but he replied that the principle to which he 
 had held throughout his whole life was to reject the 
 word ' impossible.'^ Perhaps, however, he was himself 
 surprised that he actually succeeded with the Dutch. 
 He got from them a defi.nite undertaking to join England 
 in paying subsidies to the Queen of Hungary, and a 
 promise that the 20,000 Dutch troops should join the 
 English army with all possible speed. At once, after 
 only a week's stay, Carteret hastened to make his way 
 home again, and nearly paid his life for his success. 
 After being at sea for five days, he was driven by a 
 violent storm as far north as Hull ; with great difficulty 
 the man-of-war on which he sailed succeeded in reach- 
 ing Yarmouth. From Yarmouth Carteret made his way 
 to London by road ; and on the very day of his arrival 
 had an interview with the King at Kensington. Carteret, 
 writes gossiping Horace, ' was near being lost ; he told 
 the King that being in a storm, he had thought it safest 
 to put into Yarmouth Eoads, at which we laughed, hoh ! 
 lioli ! hoh ! ' being easily amused.'-^ Of the minister's 
 serious talk gossiping Horace can give no report ; but 
 the day after the interview the royal horses and bag- 
 
 ^ Adelung, Pragmntische Staatsgeschichfe Europens, III. a, 294. 
 * r>uchess of Yarmouth was the English title of one of the King's Ger- 
 man women.
 
 256 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 gage which had been shipped for Flanders were brought 
 back again to London. There could be no thoughts of 
 a campaign that season ; the weather itself was alone 
 sufficient to decide that. The Dutch had at last been 
 secured ; but for the jDresent nothing more could be 
 done than to elaborate plans for early and, if possible, 
 decisive action next season. The Austrian general 
 D'Ahremberg came to London to share in the military- 
 consultations. He was well received and feasted at 
 many entertainments, which always took the form of 
 suppers ; for D'Ahremberg insisted upon dining at 
 eleven o'clock in the morninGf, an hour or more too 
 early for the English world of fashion. He left London 
 in November, very well satisfied with the newly devised 
 military scheme ; the final touches were to be given by 
 himself and Stair in union at the Hague. It had to 
 be confessed that the campaign of 1742 had been lost; 
 but on all sides there was fixed determination to make 
 something of the next one. The troops which had so 
 long idly lingered in Flanders were garrisoned in the 
 Netherland towns for the winter, the English chiefly in 
 the neighbourhood of Ghent ; there to wait till the 
 spring of 1743 came round, and military action was 
 again possible. Thus George's second attempt to help 
 Maria Theresa with more than generous money subsi- 
 dies had practically been as unsuccessful as his first. In 
 the first he had been able to do absolutely nothing ; in 
 the second he had actually got his troops upon the 
 ground, but had not been able to use them ; in the 
 third he was destined to be successful at last, in a very 
 surprising manner. 
 
 The interval between the cantonment of the troops 
 in the Netherlands during the winter months, and the 
 beginning of their march into Germany next year, was
 
 POWER 257 
 
 occupied in England by a rather stormy session of 
 parliament. The discontented members of the late 
 opposition were loudly asserting that Carteret and 
 Pulteney had betrayed them, and were anxious to 
 make Carteret at least feel their resentment. To attack 
 Pulteney was almost superfluous. His acceptance of a 
 peerage as Earl of Bath — his Countess was popularly 
 known as the Wife of Batli — had been the signal for 
 the ruin of his reputation. Satirists, pamphleteers, epi- 
 grammatists exhausted their vocabulary, from the polite 
 sneer down to the vulgarest ribaldry, over an event 
 which Walpole for his own purposes was reckoned to 
 have had a fair share in bringing about. ^ His influence 
 even with the Cabinet in which he sat was slight. He 
 did not know beforehand of Carteret's important com- 
 mission to visit the Hague ; Newcastle announced it by 
 letter to him, as an event whicli would probably surprise 
 him. It was Carteret alone, tlierefore, who had to 
 endure the ahnost undivided anger of a disappointed 
 and discontented party. They had been attacking him 
 from the very moment when he had formed his Govern- 
 ment. In April 1742 Sandys said to Bishop Seeker 
 til at he could not imagine why they all spoke against 
 
 ' 8ir C. II. A^'illianis's lines are an inoffensive specimen of the generul 
 feeling; — 
 
 ' Great Earl of Bath, j'our reign is o'er ; 
 Tbe Tories trust your word no more, 
 
 The Whigs no longer fear ye ; 
 Your gates are seldom now unbarr'd, 
 No crowds of coaches fill your yard, 
 And scarce a sovd comes neiir ye. . . . 
 
 Ex])ect to see that tribe no more, 
 Since all mankind perceives that power 
 
 Is lodg'd in other hands ; 
 Sooner to Carteret now they'll go, 
 Or even (though that's excessive low) 
 
 To Wilmington or Sands.' 
 
 s
 
 258 LORD CABTEEET 
 
 Carteret, unless it were because he had better abihties 
 than any of them. Argyle, of course, was one of these 
 earUest assailants. ' An Emperor may grow weary of 
 the servility of a senate,' Carteret had once said in par- 
 liament. Hardly had Argyle resigned when, with the 
 irritated pique of a personally disappointed man, he 
 repeated these words of Carteret's, and bitterly added : 
 ' A minister never will.' Throughout Carteret's first 
 session, those who had shared in the work of over- 
 throwing the old Government, and yet found them- 
 selves unimportant and uninfluential under the new, 
 were fretting with unconcealed bitterness ; in his second 
 session their angry irritation was naturally increased. 
 There was nothing surprising or, from one point of view, 
 very important in all this ; the weak point of the 
 Government Avas the disunion and discord among its 
 own members. The old section of the Cabinet, those 
 who had been the friends and colleagues of Walpole, 
 could not well agree w^ith the new section who had 
 driven Walpole from power. The views of the insignifi- 
 cant Wilmington w^ere of no consequence ; no one knew 
 or cared whether he had any views or not. But New- 
 castle and Pelham and Hardwicke were rather the 
 thwarters than the colleagues of Carteret and the new 
 element in the Government. The Pelhams especially 
 Avere consumed Avitli jealousy at the leading position 
 which Carteret held. ' My Lord Carteret, who is in the 
 strictest connection with my brother and I,' Newcastle 
 had written some six months after the formation of the 
 new ministry ; but even at that early date there was 
 hardly more truth than grammar in the sentence. And 
 their jealousy w^ent on ra])idly increasing as every 
 month showed more clearlv that Carteret was the real 
 master. To light against the regular Tory opposition,
 
 POWER 259 
 
 reinforced by a number of able Wliigs who fancied, or 
 at least pretended to fancy, that they had been wronged 
 and betrayed, and at the same time to hold on his way 
 against the underhand intriguings of insincere colleagues, 
 needed all Carteret's consciousness of ability and higli 
 intentions, as well as the courageous buoyancy of dis- 
 position which never for a moment forsook him. 
 
 Parliament met at the end of November 1742. On 
 the very first day the opposition leaders took up the 
 subject on which they obstinately insisted all through 
 the session. Their order of the day was denunciation of 
 Hanover and all its works. Pitt was chosen as their 
 spokesman. There is no report of what he said on this 
 opening occasion, but he is not likely to have failed in 
 severity. ' Pitt spoke like ten thousand angels,' was the 
 enthusiastic comment of Richard Grenville, afterwards 
 Earl Temple ; and the House of Commons on its first 
 day was in an exceedingly animated condition. But 
 the angelic eloquence which transported members witli 
 admiration could not perform tlie altogether prosaic 
 task of gaining their votes ; the rhetorical performance 
 was no doubt very fine, but from a ministerial point of 
 view the division-list was far finer. The Lords did not 
 even venture to divide at all ; and Carteret was able to 
 conoratuiate himself on a good beafinning'. This first 
 night was indeed a fair epitome of the whole session. 
 There was abundance of angry opposition eloquence ; 
 abundance of personal abuse and sneering insinuations ; 
 but the exciting rhetorical proceedings always closed 
 witli tlie solid victory of the Government. The two 
 cliief questions that engaged the Houses are a sufiicient 
 illustration. One was the (juestion of the British troops 
 in FJanders. The opposition declared that to keep the 
 troops in garrison there till the next campaign could 
 
 s -2,
 
 260 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 begin was what the parliamentary jargon of the day 
 called a Hanoverian measure, and they insisted that 
 the men should be disbanded. Murray's eloquence, 
 supporting the Government, was on this occasion heard 
 for the first time ; and the defeat of the opposition was 
 so overwhelming that Carteret gladly reckoned on its 
 probable good effect abroad. The other question roused 
 angrier feelings. Was Hanover or was England to pay 
 for the 1G,000 Hanoverian troops which George was 
 holding under arms ? They had been sent into Flanders 
 to join the English there ; if they were to be kept 
 England would inevitably have to pay for them, for the 
 King's Electoral means were in no way sufficient for such 
 luxuries. The outcry which the opposition raised was 
 terrible. Everything, they said, was done for Hanover, 
 nothing by Hano\^er. England's interests were invari- 
 ably sacrificed for the sake of a miserable little German 
 Electorate. In his slightly elaborate style of fashionable 
 sarcasm, Chesterfield asserted that the one effectual way 
 of ruining the Pretender's hopes would be to make him 
 Elector of Hanover ; for never . again would the En"'- 
 lish people accept a King from that quarter. He even 
 denounced Hanover and things Hanoverian in a pam- 
 phlet which had an unbounded success then, though it 
 is a weariness to think of now. In the House of Com- 
 mons the opposition promised tliemselves a ' glorious 
 day ' over this mu(ih-argued question ; and at least 
 had the day, if they altogether missed the glory. In 
 the Lords also there was much liveliness. It was hinted 
 that the Government's resolve to pay the troops was 
 the decision of Carteret alone. Bath, now in the same 
 House with Carteret, bluntly contradicted this. ' I am 
 personally obliged,' said Bath, ' to speak on this subject 
 by the malice of the world, and the arts of the enemies
 
 rOWEB 2C1 
 
 of the Government. I did approve this measure, and 
 do approve it. It was not a rash measure of one single 
 man, but the united opinion of all the administration 
 who were present.' Carteret's enemies were also dis- 
 appointed in another direction. They had calculated 
 that Newcastle would at most give only a silent vote for 
 the Government policy. But Newcastle spoke decidedly 
 in support of it. Horace Walpole says that Carteret 
 in his speech was ' under great concern.' There is no 
 evidence of that in the genuine fragments of the speech 
 which have survived. ' The present question,' Carteret 
 said, ' is : Will you submit to France or not ? I will 
 always traverse the views of France in place or out of 
 place ; for France will ruin this nation if it can.' The 
 Government's victory was easy; and the stormy session 
 ended in April 1743. 
 
 And now began in earnest George's third attempt 
 to check the proceedings of the French in Germany. 
 Although the promise which the Dutch had made to 
 Carteret had not yet been fuliilled, it was resolved at 
 the end of 1742 that as soon as the weather allowed 
 the English troops should leave their garrisons in the 
 Netherlands, and march into Germany to the support 
 of the Queen of Hungary. Stair had naturally been 
 very much yexed at the long inaction. In his vexation 
 he made the singularly inappropriate mistake of fancy- 
 ing that some backwardness on Carteret's part was re- 
 sponsible for the delay. In the last months of 1742 
 Stair wrote some rather querulous letters to Carteret, 
 almost upbraiding him with a desertion of the cause 
 which in opposition he had so strenuously supported. 
 ' I am very sure,' said Stair in one of these letters, 
 ' that you have everything in your power that should 
 tempt the ambition of a great man.' Carteret good-
 
 202 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 liuinouredly enougli put him right. He had abeady 
 ■written to Stair in July 1742 : ' I am looked upon by 
 many of my friends and yours as too rash, though I don't 
 carry my views so far as your Lordsliip, which may 
 proceed from my ignorance in miUtary affairs.' ^ Stair 
 soon found that in reproaching Carteret he had made a 
 complete mistake, and before tlie year was over he fully 
 acknowledged it : — 
 
 ' I thank your Lordsliip for the honour of your 
 private letter of the 22nd of jSTovcmber, O.S. ; I can 
 assure your Lordship with great truth that for your own 
 sake nothing can be a greater pleasure to me than to see 
 evidently that your Lordship pursues the same system 
 of foreign affairs which I took to be your system when 
 your Lordship brought me into his majesty's service. . . . 
 I am very sure the King, our master, has everything in 
 his power for the safety and honour of Great Britain, 
 for the good of Europe, and for his own glory ; and 
 Lord Carteret will with justice be thought the main 
 spring of moving the great machine.' ^ 
 
 For indeed there was no backwardness in Carteret 
 or in the King ; but, altogether apart from the slowness 
 of the Dutcli, whose heavy sluggishness has at times 
 sometliing almost comic about it, there were various 
 difficulties in the way, the Queen of Hungary hersell 
 being one of the chief of them. Maria was very chival- 
 rous, and high minded, and interesting ; but she was 
 not very practicable to deal with, even when it was her 
 own interest that was chiefly concerned. Month after 
 month Carteret had been urging her to gain over the 
 Kinfy of Sardinia and so streng'then herself against 
 France on the south side of the Alps ; yet she would do 
 
 ' J. M. Graham's Stair, II. 287. 
 « Add. MSS. 6,011 ; fol. 23.
 
 POWER 263 
 
 nothing but sliow what Carteret called an ill-jndged in- 
 flexibility. Her needlessly sharp-tongiied way of speak- 
 ing of the Emperor, the ' so-called Emperor,' the ' pre- 
 tended head of the Empire,' might, as Carteret said, be 
 very piquant ; yet its useless acrimony and severity 
 tended to alienate from her the vaiions members of the 
 Empire. Her language to George himself, her one firm 
 ally, was often very bitter and reproachful, little as it 
 shoidd have been so. All this very considerably in- 
 creased the otherwise sufficient difficulties of the English 
 Government. Frederick, too, had a word to say. He 
 disliked the entrance of foreign troops into the Empire. 
 But Carteret replied that his real object was to protect 
 the Empire and to rid it of the French ; and he declined to 
 allow any foreign power to prescribe the mode of action 
 which England must adopt. Frederick soon softened 
 his language, and declared that he would observe an 
 exact neutrality. 
 
 The preliminary difficulties were at length all over- 
 come, and on March 1, 1743, the EngUsh troops, after 
 so many w^eary months of waiting, began to leave their 
 headquarters at Ghent, and marched slowly towards 
 the Rhine. On March 5, in splendid weather. Stair was 
 at Aix-la-Chapelle, while his men behind him were daily 
 crossing the Meuse, ' in great health and great spirits,' 
 he informed Carteret. ' With such troops one might 
 modestly hope to do anything.' The 16,000 Hano- 
 verians were with them ; Austrian reinforcements 
 brought the total up to 40,000 men. In the rear, and 
 not yet in actual union with the main body, were 6,000 
 hired Hessians, and 6,000 extra Hanoverians whom 
 George himself as Elector contributed. Georgfe also 
 was soon in motion, eager to fight. As soon as possible 
 after the rising of parliament, he and his son Cumber-
 
 204 LORD CARTERET 
 
 land, accompanied by Carteret, left England for the 
 Continent. While the King went on at once to Hanover, 
 Carteret remained for a week at the Hague, once 
 more discussing public affairs with tlie Dutch states- 
 men, and endeavouring to infuse into their torpid lan- 
 guor something of his own energy. He found a happy 
 change among them since his last year's visit. Carteret 
 expressly says that the great parliamentary majorities 
 which had supported the English Government through- 
 out the session had produced an excellent effect in 
 Holland. People there had become fully convinced 
 that England was really in earnest ; they adopted the 
 conviction the more easily perhaps now that tlie 
 enemies of Austria were in a generally unfortunate 
 condition. Tlie French had indeed got out of Prag ; 
 but their interference in Germany had so far come to 
 little more than nothing, while the new Emperor whom 
 they had supported was receiving ruinous blows from 
 Prince Charles and his victorious Austrians. In these 
 happier circumstances, the Dutch, while Carteret was 
 still at the Haj^ue, at last named the commander for 
 their contribution of 20,000 men. Carteret then at 
 once made his way to Hanover. 
 
 From Hanover, where he arrived at the end of May, 
 Carteret instructed Stair to get together all his troops, 
 English, Hanoverians, and Hessians, with the least 
 possible loss of time. Stair had crossed the Rhine near 
 Coblentz in the last days of April, and throughout May 
 was encamped at Hochst, between Frankfort and 
 Mainz, waiting for the Hessians who were following 
 him from the Netherlands. They had been difficult 
 to get, for they were unwilling to fight against the 
 Emperor, and they never proved of any service to 
 the English in the campaign. Wlien June came, Stair
 
 POWER 205 
 
 waited no lonoer for them or for tlie King's own 6,000 
 Hanoverians, but pusliecl on, probably himself wishing 
 to make for Bavaria, and in nnion with Prince Charles 
 to clear that neighbourhood of the French. Stair 
 marched up the Mayn, reaching Aschaffenberg in the 
 middle of June ; but there he halted. On the other 
 side of the river stood the French general Noailles, 
 with some 60,000 men ; Stair numbered about 43,000, 
 all told. But Noailles would not be induced to fight. 
 He hoped to weary out and starve his enemies, and in 
 that way more effectually beat them. Stair would have 
 himself attacked Noailles, and so have compelled liim 
 to give battle ; but the Austrian general D'Ahremberg 
 absolutely refused ; and thus for days the allied army 
 lay inactive at Aschaflfenberg. It was during this 
 period of inaction that the King, Cumberland, and 
 Carteret arrived at headquarters. They found the 
 army in a very critical condition. Stair and D'Ahrem- 
 berg were not on cordial terms ; the English and 
 Hanoverian troops did not get on well together. There 
 were great sufferings among the soldiers, the commis- 
 sariat department being in a state of very confused 
 inefficiency. The men were beginning to throw off 
 discipline ; robbing churches, plundering villages ; so 
 tliat the frightened peasants left their homes, drove 
 their cattle into the woods, and reduced the supply 
 department to a worse condition than ever. The effi- 
 cient force of the army was already lessened by some 
 5,000 men. But the arrival of the King to some extent 
 restored matters. Strict orders on matters of discipline 
 were read at the head of every regiment ; George 
 liimself, if always a little ludicrous on tlie military side, 
 knew much better how to manage an armj^ than to rule 
 a kingdom. A letter of Carteret's gives a glimpse of
 
 .2GG LORD CARTERET 
 
 things at Aschaflfenberg in tliose days of waiting before 
 the battle of Dettingen : — 
 
 ' We have forty or more deserters coming in every 
 day from the French, but they are mostly hussars, Irish 
 and Swiss, very few French, among them some Germans. 
 The hussars have picked up some of our people, but 
 the Marshal de Noailles has sent them back with much 
 civihty, and we have sent him some of his people, with 
 the same pohteness. . . . His majesty is in perfect 
 health and spirits ; is always booted, and rides out to 
 several of the most material posts twice a day. The 
 Duke [Cumberland] is very well and very active, and 
 so are the Duke of Marlborough, Lord Albemarle,. 
 Lord Bury, and all your Grace's friends. I say nothing 
 of myself, but my son is liked and does his part as a 
 volunteer very w^ell. I make no doubt that all will end 
 with honour and for the good of our country. The 
 Duke D'Ahremberg and Marshal Neipperg are just gone 
 from me (I can write nothing witliout interruption), so 
 you must forgive any faults I make in writing. They 
 tell me his majesty's orders for the good discipline of 
 tlie army liave had already a very good effect, and that 
 without it we should have been soon in confusion.' ^ 
 
 After the King had been at Aschaffcnberg a week, it 
 was clear that the army could stay there no longer. 
 T]ie provision question proved impossible of solution 
 there, and on June 26 George and the generals resolved 
 to fall back down tlie river to Ilanau, where the Mayn 
 takes its direct bend to the left to find its way into the 
 Ehine at Mainz. At Hanau Avere the magazines, and 
 there too the advancing Hessians had been ordered to 
 wait. From Aschaffcnberg to Hanau, along the north 
 bank of the river, is some sixteen EngUsh miles. Nearly 
 
 1 To Newcastle; Add. MSS. 22,53G ; fol. 73, 74.
 
 POWER 2G7 
 
 midway between the two places, close on the Mayn, 
 was the village of Dettingen, and, just beyond Dettingen, 
 on the other side of the river, another small village, 
 Seligenstadt, destined to be an important little place 
 next day. The line of march was through a cramped 
 valley, from which the army coidd not possibly turn 
 aside ; for their left was bounded by the Mayn, and 
 along the right stretched the woody hills of the Spes- 
 sart-Wald. The conditions w^ere evidently uncomfort- 
 able ; but there was no remedy. Very silently, in the 
 early hours of June 27, the allied army began its march. 
 The Kino; was with the Enorlish in the rear, for it was 
 reckoned that the enemy's chief attack would be in 
 that quarter. Noailles did indeed seize Aschaffenberg 
 as soon as tlie English left it, but he had no desire to 
 try any fighting tliere. He had formed a plan Avhich 
 seemingly could not fail. Observing that the allies 
 meant to withdraw by way of Dettingen, he had, un- 
 known to them, thrown two bridges across the Mayn at 
 Seligenstadt, and sent his nephew, the Duke of Gram- 
 mont, over with a considerable force to secure the 
 o;round in front of the villao-e. Crossinof the road of the 
 retreating army, just before they could gain the Dettin- 
 gen hamlet, a brook came down from the Spessart-Wald 
 to join the river, and so formed a ravine with rou^fh 
 boggy land, difficult for orderly marching. Noailles 
 intended that while the allies were confusedly struggling 
 in this ravine and morass, and while the French batteries, 
 which they could not avoid, were playing upon them from 
 the other side of the river, Grammont should fall upon 
 them in front, and in all liuman probability end the busi- 
 ness. Noailles himself, by seizing Aschaffenberg, had shut 
 out all chance of an escape in the rear ; he had his enemy 
 in a ti-ap, and considered the afl'air as good as ended.
 
 2G8 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 Uiidisturbed by Noailles, the allies continued their 
 march, without thought of any danger in store for them 
 ahead. By eight o'clock in the morning their advanced 
 parties had reached Dettingen, but not to enter the 
 village. The unexpected sight of the French and of 
 the bridges just beyond instantly revealed to them the 
 real position of affairs, and tliey galloped back to the 
 army with the surprising news. The army halted, for 
 the post of honour now was not the rear but the van, 
 and George must come to the front. So the English 
 and Austrians waited, facing the boggy ravine, while 
 behind it stood Grammont, expecting their approach 
 w4th G;rim satisfaction. The allies had not even two 
 plans to choose between ; they could do nothing but 
 make a desperate attempt to cut their way straight 
 througli, at whatever cost. Scientific military arrange- 
 ments in that narrow, cramped ground were next to 
 impossible. The little that could be done in that 
 direction was done, and the men were ready to advance; 
 when suddenly, in the early afternoon, a wild mistake 
 of the French changed all the chances of the engage- 
 ment. Grammont, not restraining himself any longer, 
 broke his uncle's orders, left his own strong Dettingen 
 position, crossed the ravine, and attacked the enemy in 
 a position quite as good as his own. For a moment his 
 mad impetuosity had a touch of success. The allies' 
 left line broke before the onset of tlie French cavalry. 
 But it recovered, and Grammont had no other even 
 temporary satisfaction to excuse his rash and fatal folly. 
 From two o'clock till six the battle lasted, and the 
 French could make no impression anywhere. George 
 himself led the infantry ; his horse ran away with him 
 early in the action, and during the rest of the fighting he 
 was on foot. ' Don't talk to me of dancfer ; I'll be even
 
 POWER 269 
 
 with them.' Before the soUd mass of foot-soldiers the 
 French could not stand ; they broke and hurriedly 
 retreated. The retreat was turned into a fiiirht. Some 
 fled into the woods, many were drowned while trying 
 to cross the river, many were cut down before they 
 could reach the two bridges. The English were left in 
 undisturbed possession of the field ; and their little 
 King, fidl of martial enthusiasm, remained on the 
 ground till ten o'clock at night, contentedly dining 
 there on a cold shoulder of mutton. 
 
 Carteret, as a civilian, had no personal share in the 
 battle. He sat^all through the hours of the engage- 
 ment in his coach close to the field of action, and 
 witnessed one of the ludicrous episodes of the day when 
 the Archbishop of Mayence came up to his carriage 
 window, and, in the height of the action, cried out to 
 Carteret : ' Milord, je p7vteste contre toute violence.' ^ 
 That same night, from the Dettingen cottage whicli he 
 shared with the Austrian marshal Neipperg, Carteret 
 wrote home to Newcastle a short and hurried despatch 
 announcing the victory. The graces of style of the 
 polite letter-writer were, in such very confused cir- 
 cumstances, hardly to be looked for ; and Carteret's 
 letter, though it did all that was necessary in the way 
 of accurate information, was in style abrupt and awk- 
 ward enough. Small wits at home made very merry 
 over what they reckoned as its defects. Lord Shelburne, 
 surely w^itli some exaggeration, notices it as a remark- 
 able ffict that neitlier Pitt nor Carteret could write au 
 ordinary letter well. But no one was more willing to 
 recognise the imperfections of this jerky, bulletin-like 
 little missive than Carteret himself. What is unfortu- 
 nately the one anecdote of Carteret in Boswell's book 
 
 ' Add. -MSS. 11,-'U2; ibl. VS.
 
 270 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 tells " how he exclaimed after writing his (lesj)atch : 
 ' Here is a letter expressed in terms not good enough 
 for a tallow-chandler to have used.' Literary defects, 
 however, counted for little in consideration of the news 
 which tlie letter brought. The nation went wild with 
 joy over its remarkable victory ; illuminating the streets, 
 lighting bonfires, firing guns. ' My Lord,' writes Horace 
 Walpole of his father, ^ has been drinking the healths 
 of Lord Stair and Lord Carteret; he says, since it is 
 well done, he does not care by whom it was done. . . 
 The mob are wild, and cry. Long live King George, and 
 the Duke of Cumberland, and Lord Stair, and Lord 
 Carteret, and General Clayton that's dead !' More last- 
 ing than the noisy enthusiasm of the people was Handel's 
 thanksgiving music ; whose Dettimjen Te Deuiii is pretty 
 much all that is left of this once so famous victory. 
 
 The allied army without loss of time safely made its 
 way to its magazines at Hanau, where it was joined by 
 the Hessians and the extra Hanoverians. Jealousies 
 and recriminations between the English troops and their 
 foreion allies were not few. and Stair in disgust re- 
 signed and returned ' to his plough.' Many commu- 
 nications and negotiations with the French commander 
 Noailles thus fell necessarily into Carteret's hands, 
 and a jealous opposition at home asked : Is Carteret 
 the new Commander-in-Chief, then ? thinking there was 
 considerable sprightliness in the cpiestion. The ' three 
 Johns,' Argyle, Stair, and Carteret, offered a chance to 
 some rather indifferent verse-monger : — 
 
 John, Duke of Argyle, we admired for a while, 
 
 Whose titles fell short of bis merit ; 
 His loss to repair, we took John, Earl of Stair, 
 
 AVho, like him. had both virtue and merit.
 
 POWER 271 
 
 Now lie too is gone. Ah ! wliat's to be done ? 
 
 Such losses how can we supply ? 
 But let's not repine, on the banks of the Rhine 
 
 There's a third John his fortune will tr}'. 
 
 By the Patriots' vagary, he was made Secretary, 
 
 By himself he's Prime Minister made ; 
 And now to crown all, he's become General, 
 
 Though he ne'er was bred up to the trade. 
 
 But Carteret Lad more serious arrangements than 
 temporary military ones to make. The newly elected 
 Emperor was now left without allies ; the French, who 
 had set him up, were beaten and already making their 
 way out of the Empire. It was pressingly essential for 
 this puppet-Emperor to secure his speedy peace with 
 England. He had been trying this by help of Prince 
 William of Hesse, all through the year 1742. Between 
 Carteret and the Prince there had been a copious corre- 
 spondence ; more or less beseeching on the Prince's part, 
 who dwelt earnestly on tlie admirable qualities of the 
 Emperor, and begged English official commiseration for 
 a sovereign in difficulties. But Carteret was always 
 politely firm ; dead against an admii-able Emperor who 
 was closely bound to the French ; whose proposed plans 
 of arrangement were mere ' visionary and impracticable 
 schemes,' made, too, as the English Government dis- 
 covered, in private concert with France. As nothing 
 came of his very self-interested appeals, the Emperor 
 next year went further. In June 1743, while George 
 and Carteret were still at Hanover making ready to join 
 the army, Prince William of Hesse arrived there with a 
 letter from the head of the Empire. The Emperor 
 oflered to accept any terms of peace which England 
 could procure him from Vienna, if only they were com- 
 patible with his honour and dignity. The appeahng
 
 272 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 vagueness of this letter was replied to by Carteret with 
 no lack of clearness. He reported home to Newcastle : — 
 'When I liad read it, I told him [Prince William] 
 plainly, that the King would never advise the Queen of 
 Hungary to make the least cession of any part of her 
 dominions to the Emperor ; and that no peace could be 
 made between the Emperor and the Queen of Hungary 
 without his Imperial Majesty's giving up all claims and 
 pretensions to the Queen of Hungary's entire dominions ; 
 that if his Imperial Majesty would immediately and 
 publicly detach himself from France, we would endea- 
 vour to do him the most good we coidd, provided it 
 was not at the expense of the Queen of Hungary, who 
 would not so much as sacrifice a village to him. . . . The 
 Prince of Hesse then asked me whether the King would 
 propose a cessation of arms between the Emperor and tlie 
 Queen of Hungary. I answered him. No ; that the 
 Queen of Hungary and her auxiliaries would push to 
 the utmost all their advantages ; that if we run risks, 
 and fought battles and succeeded, we would make the 
 most of them ; but yet we would rather avoid those 
 extremities ; tlierefore I could answer for nothing but 
 the security of liis Imperial Majesty's person and liberty 
 at Frankfort, when once he sliall get there ; but if he 
 should be intercepted in his journey thither by the 
 Austrians, we could not be blamed. . . . The Prince of 
 Hesse did not talk to me upon any other subject, and I 
 did not give him any encouragement so to do, but am 
 to see liim to-morrow, wlien we sliall talk upon divers 
 other things. He only told me en passant^ that we had 
 found the true way to deal with tlie Court of Berlin, and 
 that the King of Prussia would observe an exact neu- 
 trality. I told him tliat we had no arts, l)ut proceeded, 
 with relation to his Prussian majesty, as we would
 
 POWER 273 
 
 towards all other German powers, with civility, courage, 
 and truth ; that the King and his ministers knew no other 
 politics. I left him to dress to go and dine with the King.' 
 This was three weeks before the battle of Dettingen. 
 Carteret clearly let the Emperor understand that Eng- 
 land would be no party to patching up a separate peace 
 between himself and Maria Theresa so long as he clung 
 to his alliance with the French. This decision would 
 not, as the Prince said to Carteret, be fort consolant to 
 the Emperor ; but Carteret was firm, and nothing more 
 could be got from him. Diplomacy now yielded to 
 arms ; and if there was little consolation to an unfortu- 
 nate Emperor in the limited promises of statesmanship, 
 there was less by far in a surprising battle of Dettingen. 
 Negotiations after that decisive event became there- 
 fore more active than ever. The Emperor had safely 
 reached Frankfort ; the English headquarters were at 
 Hanau, where George remained for two months after 
 the battle. Once more Prince William of Hesse ap- 
 peared on the scene. Carteret received him with the 
 sincere wish to secure a definite and friendly under- 
 standing. 'Britannic Majesty is not himself very for- 
 ward ; but Carteret, I rather judge, had taken up the 
 notion ; and on his Majesty's and Carteret's part, there 
 is actually the wish and attempt to pacificate the Eeich ; 
 to do something tolerable for the poor Kaiser.' ^ On 
 one preliminary condition, however, Carteret was de- 
 cisively insistent. The Emperor must altogether and 
 at once cut himself loose from the French. Charles 
 was eager to recover his Bavaria from Maria ; eager 
 also for money to tide him over his present ruinous 
 circumstances. What might be done in these directions 
 Carteret prudently declined to say ; Prince William 
 
 1 Carlyle's Frechrick. Book XIV. Chap. V.
 
 27i LOUD CARTERET 
 
 could extract from him nothing but the promise that 
 Enghmd would give all possible help to the Emperor 
 as soon as he sincerely joined tlie allies in driving the 
 French out of Germany. With this reply Prince 
 William returned on July 7, 1743, from Hanau 
 to Frankfort. The two or three days immediately 
 following produced several vague, general propositions 
 from tlie Prince, which Carteret politely refused to 
 entertain ; till the Emperor, considering that the French 
 were already in full retreat, and knowing that his own 
 circumstances could by delay become only worse in- 
 stead of better, resolved to accept Carteret's preliminary. 
 Precisely one week after the Prince had taken Carteret's 
 reply to Frankfort, he informed Carteret that the Em- 
 peror agreed ; that he would renounce all his preten- 
 sions to Austrian dominions, and entirely quit the 
 French alliance. One week had brought matters so 
 far. Frederick of Prussia approved ; he wrote from 
 Berlin to Carteret, expressing his great esteem, and 
 signing himself voire tres-affectionne ami, Federic. Carte- 
 ret himself, though not forgetful of the obstinacy of Maria 
 Theresa, was fully hopeful of success. 'All Europe sees 
 what a great scene this is, what a glorious figure his 
 majesty makes,' he wrote to Newcastle. ' France has 
 not been for a century under so great difficulties as 
 at present, and if the Emperor, the Empire, and the 
 States-General will heartily join with his majesty, the 
 Queen of Hungary, and the King of Sardinia, there is 
 all the probability and, I will venture to say, as much 
 certainty as human affairs will admit of, to trust that, by 
 the blessing of God, a safe, lasting, and general peace may 
 be procured, not impossible in this very campaign.' 
 
 Such were the plans and hopes of Emperors, Kings, 
 and statesmen ; all of them unfortunately forgetting
 
 POWER 275 
 
 that ill a high official position in Whitehall sat a 
 ridiculous Duke of Newcastle. On July 15 the Prince 
 went to Carteret, confident of o'ettino- the ofiicial sicfna- 
 
 ' (Do C 
 
 tures which would finish the afiair ; but found himself 
 quite disappointed. There was money involved in the 
 treaty ; a monthly subsidy to be paid to the Emperor 
 till his present very broken circumstances could be 
 somewhat retrieved. George and Carteret had both to 
 tell the anxious Prince that ministers in London must 
 first be consulted before tliey could put their hands to 
 that ; that fifteen days must pass before a messenger 
 could go and come. All Carteret's hopes and wishes 
 Avere for the acceptance of the treaty ; he urged it 
 upon his colleagues in London as the essential pre- 
 liminary to the union of all Germany against the 
 French. It was in vain. Why not make peace with 
 France, and leave Germany alone altogether ? asked 
 the ministers in England, and refused to have anything 
 to do with the proposed arrangement. On August 1, 
 1743, this reply reached Hanau, and Carteret had to 
 let Prince William know that for the present the only 
 result was failure. A ridiculous Duke of Newcastle 
 liad ruined the far-seeing plans of the statesman whose 
 mastery of foreign affairs was known in every capital in 
 Europe. A ridiculous Duke, who beheved that Han- 
 over was north of England, and probably thought that 
 Dettingen was on tlie top of Cape Breton (which in 
 later years he was so refreshed to discover was an 
 island), had interfered with the statesmanship of the 
 one English minister to whom the intricacies of German 
 politics were no insoluble mystery. The peddling 
 pedanticism of the most imbecile even of political 
 Dukes, for whom politics ranged from potwallopers to 
 Knights of the Garter and back again, had its way ; 
 
 T -1
 
 276 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 and Carteret's liigli schemes for the pacification of the 
 Empire and the defeat of French plans in Germany 
 were forced to yield before the ignorant insularities of 
 the Cockpit at Whitehall. There was, in addition, per- 
 sonal abuse and misconception of himself involved in 
 this failure — if Carteret had not been too proud to 
 think or complain of that. The Emperor, Prince 
 Wilhani of Hesse, Frederick of Prussia, all reckoned 
 that the fault was Carteret's alone. Brochures were 
 printed on the Continent dwelling painfully on the 
 mystery and iniquity of the affair ; Prince William 
 himself sent to the Hessian minister at the Hague a 
 long indictment of Carteret and his treachery. ' Prince 
 William's accusation of Lord Carteret makes a great 
 noise here, and will, I hope, be duly refuted in England,' 
 wrote Mr. Trevor, Eng:lish minister at the Ha^ue.^ 
 The Kings and kinglets of the Continent, imperfectly ac- 
 quainted with the beautiful working of English party 
 politics, could not understand how it was that when 
 the English King and the English chief minister pro- 
 fessed to desire a certain political action they should 
 yet be unable to realise their desires. Prince William 
 professed to believe that Carteret had never consulted 
 the Kegency in England at all, and that his account of 
 the failure of the scheme was sheer falsehood. Even 
 Frederick the Great, it is regretfully surmised,''^ felt 
 convinced that it was all Carteret's trickery and 
 treachery. Carteret bore it all, as well as the still 
 more ignorant abuse whicli was awaiting him in 
 England, in a very proud, uncomplaining way ; conscious 
 how unjust it was, but having already lived in the 
 thick of politics for thirty-two years. ' Carteret, for 
 
 ' Sept. 15, 1744. 
 
 * By Carlyle ; the only historiau who has thought it worth while to
 
 POWER "111 
 
 this Hanau business, liacl clangours enough to undergo, 
 poor man, from Germans and from Enghsh ; whicli Avas 
 wholly unjust. His trade, say the English — (or used 
 to say, till they forgot their considerable Carteret alto- 
 gether) — was that of rising in the world by feeding the 
 mad German humours of little George ; a miserable 
 trade ! Yes, my friends ; — but it was not quite Car- 
 teret's, if you will please to examine ! ' ^ 
 
 Carteret's high plan of reconcihng the Emperor and 
 Maria Theresa, and of so uniting all Germany against 
 the French, thus went to ruin, and no more negotiating 
 at Hanau was possible. In these circumstances the 
 English camp there was struck, and at the end of 
 August the King and Carteret arrived at Worms. For 
 there was still one more diplomatic effort to make, 
 liardly of an easier, though of a much more modest 
 kind than the Hanau one. Since all Germany could 
 not be got to work unitedly against the French, it 
 remained to bind together as closely as possible such 
 anti-French powers as there were. Outside England, 
 which always furnished the necessary supplies, Maria 
 Theresa's chief ally was the King of Sardinia. While 
 Germany had been busy with Silesian wars, sieges of 
 Prag, battles of Dettingen, there had been much intri- 
 cate and heavy fighting on the south side of the Alps ; 
 France and Spain together doing all the hurt they could 
 to Austria in her Italian possessions. In this southern 
 business Maria Theresa's chief support was Charles 
 
 understand and appreciate Carteret ; a great distinction for Carteret. Car- 
 lyle regrets that on this matter of the Hanau Treaty Frederick took up such 
 a misconception of Carteret. Frederick, Book XIV. Chap. V. According to 
 the Marchmont Papers, however, Audri<5, Prussian Minister to England, was 
 convinced, by Carteret himself, how the truth really lay, and wrote to 
 Fredericlv accordingly. Marchmont Papers, I. 48. 
 1 Carlyle's Frederick, Book. XIV. Chap. V.
 
 278 LORD CARTEBET 
 
 Emanuel, King of Sardinia ; but for him tliis alliance 
 was rapidly losing all its charm. The original agree- 
 ment between the two sovereigns was of a very vague 
 cliaracter, and left Charles Emanuel at full liberty to 
 side with the Bourbons if Austria failed to satisfy his re- 
 quirements. To get rid of this provisional state of things, 
 and definitely bind the King and the Queen together, 
 had been one of Carteret's earliest desires. In May 
 1742, three months after he had come into power, he 
 urged this policy on the Vienna Court. To Austrian 
 afiairs in Italy the Sardinian King's friendship was 
 clearly indispensable ; while on the otlier hand Charles 
 Emanuel stood in danger of possible Bourbon resent- 
 ment, and was being tempted by actual Bourbon offers. 
 Carteret earnestly pressed Maria Theresa to secure him 
 at once by yielding him the moderate terms he re- 
 quired ; and promised that the English King would 
 cheerfully send a fleet to the Mediterranean, even alone, 
 if the Dutch refused to join. Eobinson, however, found 
 it very hard work at Vienna. The Court was suspicious 
 of England, and angry that English fighting help was 
 so very slow in coming ; though what could George in 
 his then checkmated condition do ? Austria also was 
 just about to make her cession of Silesia to Frederick, 
 and gloomily asked if her next proceeding was to be a 
 cession to Sardinia. Better yield a trifle of Lombardy 
 than lose all you have in Italy, was Carteret's reply ; 
 and Maria Theresa reluctantly found herself compelled 
 to agree. Her promise was given, and Charles 
 Emanuel honestly and successfully fought for his ally ; 
 but was gradually worked into an irritated, threatening 
 condition as the time passed by, and there came no 
 sign that the promise was meant to be kept. Carteret 
 was verv anxious ; he feared that Sardinia, treated with
 
 POWEB 2T.) 
 
 this shabb}' ingratitude, must yield to Bourbon temp- 
 tations. To Carteret's relief, Sardinia appealed to 
 George, and offered to leave the decision of the case 
 with England. If George refused, Charles Emanuel 
 would at once go over to France ; but he expressed full 
 confidence in English intervention. Carteret was much 
 relieved. ' I own,' he wrote from Hanover in the 
 weeks before the battle of Dettingen, ' I was very 
 anxious about it, from several intelligences that I had ; 
 but I think this letter under his own hand, at this time, 
 and in so explicit a manner, may set us at rest if we 
 make a good use of it, which shall not be neglected. 
 And hereafter, when these things may become public, 
 several ingenious persons at home, who say our 
 measures have been mad, will see that one of the 
 prudentest and wisest Princes in Europe has not 
 thought so, and will risk his whole upon them.' ^ 
 
 ' Which shall not be neglected,' wrote Carteret ; nor 
 did he neglect it. Austria, of course, was difficult to 
 manage ; the square mileage of Eobinson's despatches 
 was largely increased by this business. But Austria, if 
 only in self-protection, had to agree ; and the Treaty 
 of Worms, signed on September 13, 1743, definitely 
 secured Sardinia to the right side. George undertook 
 to keep a strong squadron in the Mediterranean as long 
 as it might be needed there, and to pay a large yearl}' 
 subsidy to Charles Emanuel : Maria Theresa unreservedly 
 ])romised him the small portions of territory which he 
 required ; and he, in return for all this, rejected all 
 Bourbon temptations and ranged his 45,000 men on the 
 side of Austria. Thus, if there should be another cam- 
 paign, Carteret had secured one important preparation 
 for it ; 45,000 men fighting y);r instead of against made 
 
 • Carteret to Newcastle ; June G, 1743. Add MSS. 22,536 ; fol. 59, GO.
 
 280 LORD CARTERET 
 
 a weighty difference of 90,000 men. With this Treaty 
 of Worms Newcastle and the Eegency at liome did 
 not interfere. They approved of it and ratified it ; 
 for which complaisance Carteret was no doubt grimly 
 grateful to them. 
 
 The differences between Carteret and the Pelhams 
 on questions of foreign politics were not a cause but 
 only a symptom of the dissatisfaction which had from 
 the very first existed between the two sections of the 
 Cabinet. Tlie want of cordiality between Walpole's 
 old colleagues and Walpole's old opponents became 
 mere jealous disgust on the part of Newcastle, Pelham, 
 and Hardwicke, when they discovered that Carteret, 
 nominally Secretary of State, was practically himself 
 the Government. They were Carteret's colleagues ; 
 that did not hinder them from working and conspiring 
 against him. To weaken Carteret's influence, to fjet 
 rid of him altoscether from the Government which he 
 led in spite of them, became the supreme object of these 
 very feeble political personages, who fancied that the 
 Government of England was by nature their monopoly, 
 and that men of genius had nothing whatever to do 
 with it. A special incident about this time happened to 
 help them. A few days after the battle of Dettingen, 
 Wilmington, Prime Minister and prime mediocrity, had 
 died. Carteret hoped that Bath might succeed him ; the 
 Pelhams wished and hoped otherwise. Bath had de- 
 clined to make any application for the post before it was 
 actually vacant ; but Henry Pelham, urged on by Orford, 
 showed no such delicacy ; perhaps with excusable in- 
 ability to discover any difference between Wilmington 
 alive and Wilmington dead. Bath, too, applied when 
 Wilmington was no longer even a political cypher, 
 and his letter was sent to Carteret at Hanover. Each
 
 POWER 281 
 
 applicant felt considerable difficulties in his way, and 
 neither could make sure of success. Bath Avas unpopu- 
 lar with the King, unpopular everywhere. ' My Lady 
 Townshend said an admirable thing the other day,' 
 writes Horace Walpole. ' He [Bath] was complaining 
 much of a pain in his side. " Oh ! " said she, " that can't 
 be ; you have no side ; " ' such the brilliancy of political 
 ladies. Pelham, on the other hand, knew that Carte- 
 ret's wish in this matter was against him, and began 
 to think it hopeless to struggle against Carteret's desire, 
 or perhaps even to be afraid of success gained in 
 such circumstances. The much robuster Orford had 
 to encourage his friend. If the King should after all 
 prefer Pelham, Carteret, wrote Orford, would never 
 break with Pelham for that. ' But manet altcl mente 
 r epostiw I, ' Sidded the old minister, warningly ; remem- 
 bering what had been his own conduct in regard to all 
 political appointments, and thinking that Carteret in 
 that department was such another as himself. No 
 better proof of the contrary could have been desired 
 than Carteret's letter announcincf that the Kino's choice 
 had fallen on Pelham. Carteret wrote from Mainz, to 
 which town the King and he had now got, on their road 
 liomewards to England ; and after stating frankly that 
 he himself Avould have preferred the appointment of 
 Bath, and that he had placed that proposal before the 
 King, he continued : — 
 
 ' You see I state the affair very truly and naturally 
 to 5^ou, and what could anybody, in my circumstances, 
 do otherwise? If I had not stood by Lord Bath, who 
 can ever value my friendship ? And you must have 
 despised me. However, as the affair is decided in your 
 favour by his majesty, I wish you joy of it ; and I will 
 endeavour to support you as much as I can, having
 
 282 LOED CARTE BET 
 
 really a most cordial affection for j'oiirbrotlicr and you, 
 which nothing can dissolve but yourselves ; which I 
 don't apprehend will be the case. I have no jealousies 
 of either of you, and I believe that you love me ; but if 
 you will have jealousies of me without foundation, it 
 will disgust me to such a degree, that I shall not be 
 able to bear it ; and as I mean to cement a union with 
 3'ou, I speak thus frankly. His majesty certainly makes 
 a very great figure, and the reputation of our country 
 is at the highest pitch ; and it would be a deplorable 
 fatality if disputes at home should spoil all the great 
 w^ork.' ^ 
 
 This was certainly a straightforward letter ; New- 
 castle himself, in a private note to Lord Chancellor 
 Hardwicke, confessed that it was a manly one. To 
 Newcastle also, on the same date, Carteret wrote a 
 kindly note, in reply to the fussy querulousness of the 
 Duke, who fancied himself neglected if every mail did 
 not bring from Carteret confidential letters as well as 
 official despatches. Carteret did his best to soothe him. 
 The business connected with the army and with the 
 negotiations had been great ; the King had been ill ; 
 Carteret himself had been ' so ill, that I thought I 
 should not be able to hold out.' The interesting part 
 of the letter is its close : — 
 
 ' As to complaints upon want of concert, while the 
 King is on this side the water, and at the head of an 
 army, I don't look upon them as serious ; and therefore, 
 though my friends tell me so, I shall not force the 
 nature of things. But, as I have courage enough, God 
 be thanked, to risk, in a good cause, my natural life, I 
 am much less solicitous about my political life, which is 
 all my enemies can take from me ; and if they do, it 
 
 ' Carteret to Pelham, August 27, 1743. Coxa's Pdha7n, I. 85, 86.
 
 POWER 283 
 
 will be the first instance in which they hurt me ; though 
 I must own that my friends have been near ruining me 
 at various times ; of which I shall take care for the 
 future, being past fifty-three.' ^ 
 
 Pelham thus became nominal Prime Minister ; much 
 to the satisfaction of Orford and the angry disgust of 
 Bath. But Pelham at once found his position a very 
 difficult one. His main desire was to free himself from 
 Carteret ; and then, by reconstructing the Government, 
 to revert as far as possible to the old lines of Walpole's 
 policy. He had no intention whatever of accepting 
 Carteret's frank proposals for harmonious co-operation. 
 Consequently a struggle between Carteret and Pelham 
 was inevitable. ' If you offer any schemes without a 
 concert with him,' wrote Orford to Pelham, ' that will 
 be jealousy with a witness ; and that, he has told you, 
 he will not bear.' But that is just what the Pelhams 
 were resolved to do. Newcastle, never so much in his 
 element as when plotting against a colleague, was already 
 busily scheming with Orford how to drive Carteret from 
 the Government. In the same letter in which he ac- 
 knowledges that Carteret had written to him in an 
 ' open, friendly manner,' the Duke speculates what he 
 and his brother shall do witli him when he returns. 
 Newcastle even drew up in writing a memorial against 
 Carteret and his policy, practically asking for his dis- 
 missal ; and it required Pelham's stronger sense and 
 caution to persuade his brotlier not to present this 
 paper to the King. For Pelham and Orford clearly 
 saw that Carteret's chief support was his great personal 
 and political influence with the King ; any crude attempt 
 to injure him in that quarter would only be likely to 
 irritate George, and to do Carteret more good than 
 
 1 Coxe's Telham, I. 87, 88.
 
 284 LOBD CAETEBET 
 
 Imrm. To get rid of Carteret by personal complaints 
 to the King, and by argumentative expostulations on 
 the minister's influence or policy, seemed simply hope- 
 less. The slower but probably sure way of success 
 remained : by promises, intrigues, and plots, to weaken 
 their own colleague's position in parliament, and so 
 make his long continuance in power impracticable. To 
 gain over every discontented Whig, and rally them all 
 against the man who was a truer Whig than any of 
 them, was Orford's reiterated advice to Pelham. This, 
 backed by the anti-Hanoverian cursing and groaning of 
 the Tories and Jacobites, and by endless repetition of the 
 miserable falsehood that Carteret's foreign policy rested 
 on his desire to gain the King's personal favour, might 
 be expected to do what was wanted without very much 
 loss of time. 
 
 While these underground arrangements were busily 
 proceeding, Carteret was on his way home, taking the 
 Hague on his route, and coming to the conclusion that 
 Dutch ability to give good help against the French was 
 not nearly so much wanting as Dutch will. On November 
 26, 1743, George and the Duke of Cumberland arrived 
 in London, Carteret following them a day later ; and 
 with the grand ball which in the next week took place 
 at St. James's in honour of the King's birthday (where 
 the Duke, fairly recovered from his Dettingen wound, 
 danced with much devotion, and indeed was reckoned 
 not to limp nearly so much as Colley Cibber's birthday 
 verses), the new London political season fairly began. 
 A most confused season it seemed likely to be. ' All is 
 distraction,' wrote Horace Walpole ; ' no union in the 
 Court, no certainty about the House of Commons : Lord 
 Carteret making no friends, the King making enemies : 
 Mr Pelham in vain courting Pitt, etc. ; Pulteney unre-
 
 rOWEB 285 
 
 solved. How will it end ? ' It began witli a Babel of 
 parliamentary abuse directed against Carteret. Jacob- 
 ites, Tories, discontented Whigs, hopelessly discordant 
 on almost every other matter, on this displayed an easy 
 unanimity. Chesterfield had the first opportunity. He 
 chose to represent the royal speech which on December 1 
 opened the session as particularly the speech of ' the 
 minister,' and as a sign of a disunited Cabinet ; an un- 
 fortunate charge, for the document was the composition 
 of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke.^ The main drift of 
 Chesterfield's speech, that England should leave Ger- 
 many absolutely alone and confine herself to lier war 
 against Spain, was, as an abstract proposition, perfectly 
 reasonable ; as a contribution to the practical politics 
 of the day it was useless ; for England could only leave 
 Germany severely alone if France would do the same ; 
 which evidently France would not. Hanover, of course, 
 under veiled insinuations, was not forgotten by Chester- 
 field ; few political speeches of those days are free from 
 that most wearisome of topics. Hanover and abuse of 
 Carteret, that practically was Chesterfield's speech ; 
 though for formality's sake he insisted that the Lords 
 should inquire particularly into every step of the war 
 and the negotiations, ' the Green Bag itself upon your 
 table,' a parliamentary proceeding of frightful solemnity. 
 Carteret's reply was triumphant. ' Easy and animated,'. 
 Walpole's panegyrist Coxe calls it ; Yorke notes that 
 Carteret ' spoke with great confidence and spirit, and 
 was reckoned to g;et the better of Lord Chesterfield.' 
 He had, indeed, an accomplished success to point to. 
 
 1 Ilardwicke's son, the Hon. Philip Yorke, expressly says so. Yorke, 
 who often attended the debates in the Lords, and was himself anM.P.,' 
 kept a ]\IS. parliamentary journal from Dec. 174;' to April 1745. It is printed 
 in Vol. XIII. of the Parliamentanj Ilistonj, and is, wliile it lasts, the best 
 authority.
 
 286 LOBD CAliTEliET 
 
 It was liis fixed policy to check the French and tlieir 
 designs on Germany, and there was not now a French 
 soldier in the Empire. As the first work of his ministry, 
 Maria Theresa had been reconciled with Frederick, and 
 that first great success had been followed up by the 
 actual co-operation of the Dutch with England, by the 
 decisive defeat of France in Germany, and by the suc- 
 cessful agreement between Austria and Sardinia. Con- 
 tinue vigorously what has so successfully been begun, 
 was the urgent drift of Carteret's speech ; while from 
 the personal point of view he would, he said himself, be 
 the very first to press for a minute inquiry into all that 
 had occurred. No second speaker ventured to carry 
 on the attack which Chesterfield had opened, and the 
 honours of the debate distinctly remained with Carteret. 
 The discussion on this same occasion in the House 
 of Commons was not limited to a parliamentary duel. 
 Pelham, the leader of the House, was not present; his 
 seat had been vacated by his new ofiScial appointment, 
 and he had not yet been re-elected. But Dodington 
 and Lyttelton and Grenville were there to attack 
 Carteret ; Winnington, Fox, and Sandys to defend him ; 
 tlie two sides striving with each other to endless lengths 
 on the battle of Dettingen, the Treaty of Worms, and 
 above all on Hanover. What Dodington or Sandys had 
 to say on these most exciting topics is now indifferent 
 to every one ; but Pitt also was tliere, and especially 
 concerned himself with Carteret. This occasion prac- 
 tically opened Pitt's period of violent invective against 
 Carteret ; a period which lasted till Pitt himself got into 
 office, when his tone changed. In his violent way Pitt 
 now styled Carteret ' an execrable, a sole minister, who 
 had renounced the British nation, and seemed to have 
 drunk of the potion described in poetic fictions, which
 
 POWER 287 
 
 made men forget their country.' ^ Carteret did not fail 
 to find defenders against this excited rhetoric. ' His 
 integrity and love to his country,' said the Chancellor 
 of the Exchequer, ' were equal to his abilities, which 
 were acknowledged by the whole world.' Pitt's unpar- 
 liamentary violence could not pass without rebuke, but 
 he did not allow himself to be checked, and soon ex- 
 ceeded the abusiveness of this first outburst. It was all 
 in the game of party politics ; Pitt himself had not yet 
 held any responsible office ; his eloquence was impas- 
 sioned and reckless, and he himself was reckless and im- 
 passioned in the use of it. Fox always spoke to the 
 question, Pitt to the passions, said Horace Walpole. 
 Pitt's political career, from its commencement onwards 
 till the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, has nothing 
 specially noticeable about it, unless heated party spirit 
 and passionate eloquence are so ; though after that date 
 it was noteworthy as few others are. Till the year 
 1756 Pitt was a free lance, fighting for his own hand ; 
 and he never used his chartered liberty more extrava- 
 gantly than in the session which followed the battle of 
 Dettingen. What Yorke said of his conduct in one of 
 these debates does equally well for his tactics in them 
 all : ' Mr. Pitt spoke rather to raise tlie passions than 
 convince the judgments of his hearers, which he is too 
 apt to do, though in that way I never heard anybody 
 finer.' Pitt found his second opportunity when parlia- 
 ment debated if England should keep the Hanoverian 
 troops in its pay for tlie campaign of 1744. The oppo- 
 sition insisted that England should not, and repeated 
 various vague, unauthenticated rumours of disagree- 
 ments between the English and Hanoverian soldiers, 
 on the trutli or falsehood of which tlie opposition and 
 
 ' Yorke's Parliaineutary MS,
 
 288 LORD CARTERET 
 
 the military members wrangled at great length. OfFicers 
 who had been in the camp and at the battle contradicted 
 the vagne stories which had been so eagerly credited for 
 party reasons ; and the proposal to dismiss 22,000 men 
 in the middle of a war was too absurd to be successful. 
 But it served Pitt's turn well enough. ' His Majesty,' 
 said he, ' yet stands on the firm ground of his people's 
 affections, though on the brink of a precipice ; it is the 
 duty of parliament to snatch him from the gulf where 
 an infamous minister has placed him, and not throw 
 paltry flowers on the edge of it, to conceal the danger. 
 It may be a rougli, but it is a friendly hand which is 
 stretched out to remove him.' To call Carteret an 
 ' infamous minister ' was not sufficiently abusive for 
 Pitt ; he became so violent and personal that it was 
 necessary to call him to order. He continued his 
 charges with but little abatement, and ended by rhetori- 
 cally declaring that tlie ' great person ' (the parha- 
 mentary expression for the small person who was King) 
 was hemmed in by German officers and by one English 
 minister without an English heart. 
 
 The same question was brought before the House of 
 Lords by Sandwich, whose speech had Pitt's bitterness 
 without the ability. His motion ventured to assert 
 that faitliful Englishmen at home, and the English 
 forces abroad, were filled witli heart-burnings and 
 jealousies at the conduct and favoured treatment of 
 their Hanoverian allies. Sandwich wearisomely reca- 
 pitulated the well-worn charges : how a considerable 
 body of Hanoverian troops had refused to obey Stair's 
 orders during the battle ; how a Hanoverian officer had 
 refused to obey him after it ; and so on through all the 
 wearisome catalogue, every item of accusation being 
 absurdly untrue, with the exception of one small inci-
 
 POWER 289 
 
 dent which had resulted simply from a misunderstand- 
 ing and had been explained entirely to Stair's satisfac- 
 tion. Carteret, not wishing to let the debate continue, 
 as it had begun, on a false issue, rose at once and 
 plainly declared that the stories and rumours which had 
 been repeated by Sandwich were false. In spite of this, 
 Chesterfield continued the tale which Sandwich had 
 begun, and lamented that the joy with which the army 
 had received its victory had been damped by the dis- 
 contents and jealousies which had followed it. Yorke 
 has unkindly but particularly preserved one of Chester- 
 field's sentences. ' My lords,' said he, speaking of the 
 English soldiers, ' the triumphal laurels yet green upon 
 their brows were soon overshadowed by the gloomy 
 cypress.' Chesterfield passed from these distressing 
 botanical details to dwell on what he reckoned mili- 
 tary defects during and after the battle ; a quite 
 fair subject for opposition attack, but not one wliicli in 
 any way touched Carteret personally, who was not a 
 soldier, and had no responsibility for military arrange- 
 ments. Perhaps for that very reason, Carteret's reply, 
 wdiicli had mainly to concern itself with a defence of 
 the operations of the campaign, was not reckoned to be 
 one of his finest performances, but rhetorical rather and 
 exaggerated ; but when Carteret left the military side 
 for his own sure ground of statesmanship he was him- 
 self again. ' The finest stroke in his speech was his 
 appeal, not to the people of England who had reaped 
 the benefit of the King's wdse counsels and vigorous 
 measures, but to those who had received detriment 
 from them. — France and Spain ; that thought he worked 
 up like an orator.' ' But France and Spain would not 
 listen. 
 
 * Yorke 's Parliamentary MS. 
 
 u
 
 290 LOBD CABTERET 
 
 These first two debates were closely followed by 
 many others which were little more than variations on 
 the same theme. Sandwich on one of these occasions 
 declared that he would bring this subject of Hanover 
 before the House of Lords in as many different shapes 
 as Proteus could assume ; and that is really what the 
 opposition did. It was in vain for the Government to 
 defeat its enemies and fancy the thing was ended ; the 
 discomfited opposition easily wriggled out of the Govern- 
 ment's grasp, and instantly appeared again in an irritat- 
 ing novelty of form. And the opposition could not, in 
 any of its Protean disguises, refrain from attacking 
 Carteret. When the House of Commons had decided 
 that the Hanoverian troops should be continued in 
 British pay, the faction of defeated discontent ventured 
 to demand that England should not continue the war 
 unless she was immediately joined by the Dutch. Pitt 
 was not very zealous to push opposition so far as this, 
 though he supported the proposal in a half-hearted 
 way ; but he was far from being half-hearted in the 
 language of his personal attack. He styled Carteret 
 a ' desperate rhodomontading minister,' and solemnly 
 asserted that for the last six months the little finger of 
 one man had lain more heavily upon the nation than 
 the loins of an administration which had existed for 
 twenty years. Bubb Dodington, whose name is syn- 
 onymous with political infamy, declared that Carteret 
 was endeavouring to make himself despotic with the 
 King, and the King despotic with the country. Tlie 
 opposition was easily delivered to defeat and ridicule 
 over its senseless proposal to make English action 
 dependent on what it might please the Dutch to do ; but 
 still the infatuated attacks were continued. Pitt declined 
 to aid the more headlong spirits who wished, by refusing
 
 POWER 291 
 
 supplies for the British troops in Flanders, to make a 
 campaign in 1744 impossible ; but he amply made up 
 for this reticence by his violence against the renewed 
 English payment of the Hanoverian soldiers. The 
 opposition had made artful use of this unpopular pro- 
 posal, and knew that everything Hanoverian excited 
 passionate feeling in the country. Carteret had already 
 received a threatening letter from ' Wat Tyler,' to tell 
 him that three hundred men had sworn to tear him limb 
 from limb if he should propose to continue the Hano- 
 verian troops in British pay. With one exception, the 
 ministry wavered, frightened by the noisy outcry ; but 
 the exception was an important one, for it was Carteret 
 himself. All but Carteret despaired of success. The 
 others would have dropped the measure ; but that was 
 not Carteret's way. He received, too, effective aid from 
 one who for twenty years back had met him with nothing 
 but opposition. Orford, who had now little more than 
 a year to live, left his retreat at Houghton, and warmly 
 urged his friends in London to assist the Government on 
 this point. It was not from any love to Carteret ; but 
 rather from statesmanlike feeling and personal regard 
 for the King whom he had served so long. His help was 
 undoubtedly effective ; his son, Horace, in his exagger- 
 ating way, writes that but for Lord Orford the Hanover- 
 ian troops would have been lost. Horace himself spoke 
 in favour of the Government, and gained much approval 
 for his elegant eloquence. But the dainty phrases of this 
 amateur dabbler in politics were followed by work of a 
 much rougher kind. One member openly attacked the 
 King by name, and threw the House into such confusion 
 that it was compared to nothing better than a tumultu- 
 ous Polish Diet. Pitt spoke to the passions ; above all, 
 to the personal passions. He very adroitly flattered the 
 
 u 2
 
 292 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 Pelhams, wliom it pleased him to call the ' amiable ' 
 part of the administration ; against the odious part he 
 exhausted abusive invective. Carteret was the ' Hano- 
 ver troop minister, a flagitious task-master '; the 16,000 
 Hanoverian soldiers were his placemen and the only- 
 party he had. Pitt wished that Carteret sat in the 
 House of Commons, that he might give him more of 
 his angry eloquence. ' But I have done ; if he were 
 present, I would say ten times more.'^ On the second 
 day of the debate, Pitt abandoned the vocabulary of 
 insult for a picturesque despair ; and said, as if he really 
 believed it, that to pay the Hanoverian soldiers would 
 be to erect a triumphal arch to Hanover over the mili- 
 tary honour and independence of Great Britain. But 
 common-sense got the better of party passion. To dis- 
 miss 22,000 men without knowing how to replace them 
 was too absurd ; to have refused from Hanover a benefit 
 which would have been gladly accejDted from any other 
 quarter would have been the triumph of pettish sense- 
 lessness. The Grovernment majority was large ; yet 
 Proteus only took another shape. 
 
 But in the midst of all this angry rhetoric, there 
 came an alarm which for the moment quieted party 
 faction. While Chesterfield was sneeringly lamenting 
 that the Crown of three Kingdoms was shrivelled 
 beneath an Electoral cap, and, in his exquisitely refined 
 way, was declaring that Carteret, by laying the Treaty 
 of Worms before parliament, had at last ' voided his 
 worms';^ while Pitt was violently perorating on the 
 minister's ' audacious hand,' and dimly liinting at an 
 impeachment ; and while Carteret, fearlessly defending 
 
 1 II. Walpole to Mann, Jan. 24, 1744. 
 
 ^ This is in Yorke's Journal ; but the Parhaiuentary History is too polite 
 to publish it. It is in Add. MSS. 0,198 ; fol. m, W
 
 POWER 293 
 
 his own policy, was asserting that discontents had been 
 roused by wicked and groundless misrepresentations, 
 news came to London that France and the Young Pre- 
 tender together were about to attempt a descent on the 
 English coast. 
 
 Not very much in the military way had been done 
 after the battle of Dettingen. Louis XV., his enter- 
 prises having so thoroughly failed, withdrew his troops 
 from Germany, and in little more than a month after 
 the battle was applying to the Diet at Frankfort for a 
 restoration of peace. The Queen of Hungary's response 
 was very high and scornful. Compensation for her lost 
 Silesia was with her a fixed idea ; why should not the 
 compensation come from France, if it were impossible 
 to get it from other quarters ? While George was rest- 
 ing at Hanau, and Carteret was planning treaties for 
 Newcastle to ruin, the King and the minister were 
 visited by Maria's brother-in-law Prince Charles and 
 the Austrian General Khevenh tiller, full of schemes and 
 proposals for following up the victory and invading 
 France itself. Li August 1743 it was rumoured every- 
 where in London that at a grand Hanau entertainment, at 
 which Prince Charles was present, Carteret had proposed 
 as a toast, Dunkirk, Lorraine, and Alsace. But nothing 
 came of all these hopes and plans, that year. The 
 English army went into winter quarters in the Nether- 
 lands ; and thoug;h Prince Charles tried in various 
 places to make his way across the frontier into Alsace, 
 he never could. He too went home in October 1743, 
 and nothinjT remained settled but that the fifj^htimr 
 must beo;in again next season. 
 
 France, seeing the haughty way in which her pro- 
 posals had been rejected, quite gave up the peace view, 
 and made great preparations for the new campaign.
 
 294 LOBD CABTERET 
 
 The French plans seemed especiallj^ to threaten the 
 frontier towards the Netherlands ; and Carteret, who 
 had lost no courage under the unscrupulous attacks of 
 political enemies, remained true to his undeviating line 
 of foreign policy. On December 30 he wrote to the 
 Enixlish minister at the Hao-ue : — 
 
 ' The first plan of France was, under pretence of 
 sustaining the Elector of Bavaria, to ruin the House of 
 Austria. To come at that, they were willing to forfeit 
 their faith and reputation. They have received a check 
 in that design, have squandered immense sums ineffectu- 
 ally, and lost whole armies in the prosecution of it. 
 These disappointments they impute to his majesty and 
 the States, and there is no doubt but they meditate the 
 severest revenge, and will not fail to take it, if we have 
 not, under the blessing of God, recourse to the forces 
 He has given us for our security, and for reducing that 
 ambitious power within its true bounds.' 
 
 Carteret therefore urged Holland, for its own sake, 
 to put an end to parsimony and pusillanimity, and to 
 join heartily with England in a determination to convince 
 France ' that we are not to be terrified into any base 
 submission to her will, but that, as our only object is a 
 fair and honourable peace, we are not afraid of con- 
 tending for it by a just and vigorous war.' 
 
 So far, neither France nor England had been a 
 principal in this war. England was only the ally of 
 Austria ; France, the ally of Bavaria. But the whole 
 tendency of things had necessarily been drawing the 
 two powers into direct personal antagonism ; and the 
 action of France in the first weeks of 1744 was the 
 prelude to the open declaration of war. In January, 
 George was informed that the Old Pretender's son had 
 left Rome for Paris, under pretence of sharing in a
 
 POWER 295 
 
 himting-party. It was known that France had been 
 equipping a fleet at Brest ; it was rumoured that the 
 Young Pretender was about to join it. The excitement 
 in London was considerable ; the ministry met frequently ; 
 officers everywhere were ordered to their posts. In 
 February the Brest squadron sailed ; some twenty men- 
 of-war, followed soon by four others. They entered the 
 Channel on February 14, and reached Dungeness early 
 in March, anchoring there while Comte de Saxe Avas 
 busily putting 15,000 men on board transports at Dun- 
 kirk. Timid persons feared the French might quickly 
 push up t]ie river as the Dutch had done in 1667, and 
 march direct on London. But Admiral Norris, with a 
 larger fleet than the French one, sailed round the South 
 Foreland to meet them. On March 5 Norris, ofi" Folke- 
 stone, was in sight of the enemy at Dungeness ; the 
 Kentish cliffs were crowded with gazing watchers eager 
 to see the engagement. Fortunately or otherwise, they 
 were disappointed. That same evening a storm began, 
 raging all through the night ; and the planned invasion 
 was ruined without any fighting whatever. The French 
 fleet was driven from its Dungeness anchorage, leaving 
 anchors and cables behind it ; Saxe's transports never 
 ventured out of Dunkirk roads. 
 
 Declaration of war by France against England soon 
 followed this abortive attempt ; the French manifesto 
 being characterised by Carteret as ' an insolent and im- 
 pudent production, which contains, with regard to the 
 views and conduct of France, a barefaced mockery and 
 imposition upon the common-sense of mankind, and, with 
 regard to those of his majesty, is full of misrepresenta- 
 tions and falsehoods.' England replied with a counter- 
 declaration. Stair, forgetting old grievances, had al- 
 ready left his ' plough,' and, with mucli royal apprecia-
 
 296 LORD CARTERET 
 
 tion of his loyalty, liad become Commander of the troops 
 at home. The English army in Flanders was recruited ; 
 the Dutch troops, due by treaty to England in case 
 of an invasion, began to arrive in the river. George 
 sacrificed his usual visit to Hanover ; the parliament 
 did what was necessary in the way of supplies ; and Car- 
 teret, who was suffering from the universal malady of 
 eighteenth-century statesmen, had lost nothing of his 
 cheerfulness through illness. ' I have neither speech 
 nor motion,' he wrote to Lord Chancellor Hardwicke 
 on the day after the English declaration of war, 'leaving 
 wliat I had with Lord Bath. My gout is not gone off, 
 but I am in good spirits.' ^ 
 
 ' I am in good spirits,' This was only another way 
 of saying : ' I am Lord Carteret.' But Carteret's good 
 spirits did not rest upon a false feeling of security, or 
 upon any ignorance of the circumstances which were 
 personally threatening him Carteret knew perfectly 
 well that his position as a minister was at this time pre- 
 carious. The imperfect cohesion of the mixed Govern- 
 ment which had succeeded Walpole's had been a cause 
 of difficulty and weakness from the very first ; in 1744 
 the split had become too wide to be bridged over. 
 While England and France were declaring war against 
 each other, the members of the English Cabinet were 
 declaring war among themselves. Newcastle, one of 
 whose detestable peculiarities was to treat all political 
 differences from the personal point of view (declining 
 private intercourse even with his brother when they 
 were not wholly agreed on political action), could not at 
 this time meet Carteret at dinner. The Duke D'Ahrem- 
 berg was in London in March ; but Carteret could not 
 go to the entertainments which the Pelhams gave liim. 
 
 1 Harris' Hardwicke, II. 65, April 12, 1744.
 
 POWER 297 
 
 It was impossible to be blind to the real meaning of all 
 this. Government on such conditions could not last. 
 Carteret, who had a way of putting his meaning into 
 words too plain to be mistaken, told the brothers that 
 they might take the Government themselves if they 
 pleased ; but that if they either could not or would not, 
 he himself would take it. ' There is anarchy,' he said 
 to them, ' in Holland, and anarchy at home. The first 
 may be removed by a Stadt-holder ; but to remove the 
 latter things must be broui^ht to an immediate decision.' 
 A letter from Newcastle to Hardwicke shows how 
 plainly Carteret spoke, and how irreconcilable the 
 difference was : — 
 
 ' I had a very extraordinary conversation with my 
 Lord Carteret, going with him yesterda}'' to Kensington ; 
 which, with the late incidents that have passed between 
 us, produced a more extraordinary declaration from 
 him to my brother and me last night. He said, that if 
 my Lord Harrington had not been gone, he intended to 
 have spoke very fully to us ; that he would do it when 
 your Lordship, Lord Harrington, and we should be 
 together ; that things could not remain as they were ; 
 that they must be brought to some precision ; he would 
 not be brought down to be overruled and outvoted 
 upon every point by four to one ; if we would take the 
 Government upon us, we might ; but if we could not or 
 would not undertake it, there must be some direction, 
 and he would do it. Much was said upon what had 
 passed last year, upon the probability of the King's going 
 abroad, etc. Everything passed coolly and civill}^ but 
 pretty resolutely, upon both sides. At last he seemed 
 to return to his usual profession and submission. 
 
 ' Upon this, my brother and I thought it absolutely 
 necessary that we should immediately determine
 
 298 LORD CARTERET 
 
 amongst ourselves what party to take ; and he has 
 therefore desired me to see your Lordship, and talk it 
 over with you in the course of this day. We both look 
 upon it, that either my Lord Carteret will go out (which 
 I hardly think is his scheme, or at least his inclination), 
 or that he will be uncontrollable master. My brother 
 supposes that, in that case, he means that we should go 
 out. I rather think he may still flatter himself that 
 (after having had this offer made to us, and our having 
 declined to take the Government upon ourselves) we 
 shall be contented to act a subordinate part. Upon the 
 whole, I think the event must be, that we must either 
 take upon us the Government, or go out.' ^ 
 
 Not to ' go out,' if in any way he could possibly 
 stay in, was the one principle to which Newcastle was 
 constant throughout his long parliamentary career. 
 From this point, therefore, his vague jealousy and dis- 
 like of Carteret cliancred into a firm determination to 
 get rid of him. Newcastle's letters to Hardwicke, 
 without whom he could do nothing but bribe and be 
 ridiculous, are full of it. It was his element ; he could 
 feel that he was in reality engaged in pohtics when he 
 was intriguing against a colleague. He had intrigued 
 against Walpole ; he had attempted to intrigue with 
 Pulteney ; he was now intriguing against Carteret ; in 
 the coming years he was to intrigue against Pitt and 
 Fox. Craggs once said that a Secretary of State might 
 be lionest for a fortnight, but could not possibly con- 
 tinue such conduct for a month. Newcastle never tried 
 it even for the fortnight. 
 
 The plot against Carteret was to succeed, but only 
 after long and difficult operations. The outbreak of 
 the war with France was itself slightly in Carteret's 
 
 1 June 6, 1744.
 
 POWER 299 
 
 favour. There were onlookers who reckoned that his 
 knowledge of foreign affairs would make his continuance 
 in power necessary, and that the Pelhams would have 
 to yield to his superiority. His position was strength- 
 ened by the failure of the French invasion, and by the 
 expectation of a successful campaign. But this expec- 
 tation went all to ruin. It had been first intended that 
 the King himself should go to Flanders ; but Newcastle 
 and his party declared that if that were so they would 
 all resign, and the plan had to be abandoned.^ The 
 English commander was therefore Marshal Wade ; with 
 him was the Austrian D'Ahremberg ; both of them ter- 
 ribly incompetent persons, especially when a Marshal 
 Saxe was opposed to them. Whilst Wade looked on, his 
 army doing hterally nothing, Louis the Well-beloved and 
 his generals were proceeding much as they pleased in 
 the Netherlands, town after town yielding easily to their 
 success. The only check which somewhat interrupted 
 the victorious progress of France came from quite a 
 different quarter. Prince Charles, Maria Theresa's 
 brother-in-law, had been unable last year to invade 
 France after Dettingen ; but in this new campaign he 
 was trying it again, and on the last day of June 1744 
 actually succeeded in crossing the Ehine into Alsace. 
 Louis at once ended his ornamental patronage of his 
 army in Flanders ; left to Saxe the easy task of looking 
 after Wade ; and himself hastened to Metz, to terrify 
 adoring France by his illness there, and to adopt the 
 religious view till his recovery was complete. Could 
 not old Wade in this altered state of things now do 
 something ? There were difficulties ; he and D'Ahrem- 
 berg were not on the best of terms ; the Dutch were 
 as usual demonstrating their indisputable pre-eminence 
 
 ' Historical MSS. Commission ; Report III. 278,
 
 300 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 in phlegmatic sluggishness ; the French were perhaps 
 somewhat superior in numbers. But Wade himself was 
 probably the chief difficulty of all. He was suspected 
 of leaning to the Pelham side of the administration, and 
 of showing no great anxiety to carry out the instruc- 
 tions which he received from Carteret ; while in military 
 matters he was quite incompetent. ' He is old and 
 quite broke,' wrote the Earl of Bentinck from the 
 Hague ; ' so that when he has been four hours a-horse- 
 back, he wants two days to recover the fatigue.' ^ Wade 
 might have been a match for Sir John Cope ; opposed 
 to Saxe he was merely a comic figure. He did, indeed, 
 with his Austrian and Dutch allies, continue to hold 
 war councils that came to no decision, and to make 
 confused military movements that resulted in no action ; 
 more than that he did not do. When the campaign 
 closed, the English and their alHes had done absolutely 
 nothing ; they had simply stood by to see the French 
 win. ' The ever-memorable campaign of 1744 is now 
 closed in Flanders,' wrote Trevor from the Hague in 
 October. ' What posterity or the parliament will say 
 of it, the Lord knows.' 
 
 Thus the expectation that Carteret's position at 
 home would be strengthened by a successful campaign 
 abroad was completely falsified. The only thing worth 
 calling a success in the whole continental struggle was 
 the defeat of Frederick of Prussia's first expedition in 
 the second Silesian war ; and in that success England 
 had no share. Frederick, clearly seeing that in Maria's 
 haughty humour he was by no means yet secure in his 
 hold on Silesia, had again allied himself with France, 
 and in August, greatly to the disturbance of the Enghsh 
 King, had struck into the quarrel once more. ' I wish 
 
 1 Brit. Mus. Egerton MSS. 1,713; fol. 61 y°.
 
 POWER 801 
 
 he was Cham of Tartary ! ' said passionate httle George 
 once to Chesterfield of his incomprehensible cousin. 
 This sudden diversion compelled Prince Charles to with- 
 draw from Alsace, and Frederick, beginning brilliantly, 
 took Prag ; but there all his success ended. The Aus- 
 trians, trusting to weather and famine to do their 
 business, would not fight him ; and Frederick, baffled, 
 could do nothing but retreat to Silesia, while his garrison 
 withdrew from the one place that he had captured. 
 This, a success for the cause which England was sup- 
 porting, was not a success of which England in any 
 direct way could adopt the credit ; and, even if it had 
 been so, it would have come too late to affect appreci- 
 ably the course of ministerial dissensions in London. 
 The date of Carteret's fall was coincident with that 
 of Frederick's faikn-e. 
 
 By the summer months of 1744 it had become clear 
 that the Government as it stood could not expect to 
 meet the new session of parliament. There was now 
 hardly even the pretence of union between the new 
 and the old elements in tlie ministry which Carteret 
 directed. The political intriguing of the Pelhams had 
 easily reinforced itself by the deliberate employment of 
 unbounded public misrepresentation. Everything that 
 had failed at home or abroad was laid to the charge of 
 Carteret. It was Carteret's fault that Prussia had once 
 more struck into the war ; Carteret's fault that Wade 
 was old and imbecile, and the Dutch the heaviest and 
 slowest mortals in Europe. The old falsehoods were 
 eagerly brought out once again, and Carteret was 
 accused of grasping at despotism, and of prolonging the 
 war for the ends of his own selfish ambition. Carteret, 
 on his side, imprudently perhaps but very naturally, 
 did not care to conceal his contempt for Newcastle,
 
 802 LORD CABTEEET 
 
 and made no mock professions of confidence in other 
 colleagues who were almost ostentatiously conspiring 
 against him. Carteret knew that the Pelhams were toiling 
 and plotting to remove him ; but he was not disheartened, 
 and not at all inclined to yield without a struggle. He 
 had the King strongly on his side ; and this more than 
 anything vexed the souls of his rivals ; for never had 
 George's disgust with them been so angrily evident as 
 now. The King did not attempt to conceal it ; his per- 
 sonal friend, Lord Waldegrave, says that his countenance 
 could not dissemble. Newcastle bitterly complains of 
 the King's manner, looks, and harsh expressions ; it 
 added to the Duke's anguish that he received this treat- 
 ment in the presence of Carteret himself. He tells his 
 brother that they and their friends must compel the 
 King to choose between Carteret and themselves, or 
 Newcastle must despairingly resign. ' If nothing of the 
 kind can be agreed upon, I must, and am determined to 
 let the King know, that my having had the misfortune 
 to differ in some points from Lord Carteret had, I found, 
 made me so disagreeable to his majesty, that, out of 
 duty to him and regard to myself, I must desire his 
 leave to resign his employment ; for, indeed, no man can 
 bear long what I go through every day, in our joint 
 audiences in the closet.'^ 
 
 Pelham was not much happier. He replies to his 
 brother next day : ' I was at Court to-day, and designed 
 to have gone in to the King, after the drawing-room was 
 over ; but as Lord Carteret went in, and as I saw 
 nothing particular in his majesty's countenance to make 
 me over-forward, I chose to put it off till to-morrow.' 
 'To-morrow' was doubtless just as unpleasant as 'to- 
 day' could have been. Disagreeable incidents, as 
 
 ' Newcastle to Pelham ; August 25, 1744.
 
 POWER 303 
 
 Newcastle mildly termed them, occurred daily ; much 
 to the intriguer's distress, who was alarmed at the 
 King's contemptuous indifference. George was simply 
 slighting him ; and it was dangerous to let the King 
 adopt the notion that from the Pelhams there was 
 nothing to be hoped and nothing to be feared. The 
 brothers, therefore, having failed so far in all their 
 attempts, now turned to more decisive measures. They 
 appealed to the leading Whigs in opposition, to Pitt, 
 Chesterfield, Lyttelton, and the others, to join them ; 
 and these, after very slight delay, unreservedly agreed. 
 Then the final step was taken. Hardwicke, at New- 
 castle's request, drew up a long Memorial, denouncing 
 Carteret's conduct and policy. The Pelham party 
 resolved to present this document to the King, and to 
 give him the option between Carteret's dismissal and 
 their own resignations. 
 
 On November 1, 1744, Newcastle handed the 
 Memorial to the King. In little more than an hour 
 George returned it to Newcastle House. He was not 
 disposed to yield. On November 3, Carteret and New- 
 castle were with the King together, and Carteret after 
 the audience was for five minutes alone with George. 
 Newcastle concluded that in this private interview the 
 King told Carteret of the Pelhams' accusations and 
 demands, ' probably with assurances of his support, and 
 recommending management and some compliance to 
 Lord Granville.^ I conclude this day the scheme of 
 conduct will be settled between the King and Lord 
 Granville, which will, I believe, be what I always fore- 
 saw : a seeming acquiescence, depending upon Lord 
 
 ^ T$y the death of his mother, Carteret became Earl Granville on 
 October 18, 1744. Till the close of this chapter, it will be more convenient 
 to continue to speak of him as Lord Carteret.
 
 304 LOBD CARTEBET 
 
 Granville's savoir to defeat it afterwards, and draw us 
 on. This is what I most dread ; and I own I think 
 nothing will prevent it but a concert entame, in a proper 
 manner, directly with Lord Chesterfield.' ^ Pelham and 
 Hardwicke asked audiences to enforce their written 
 arguments, but were received w^ith unconcealed ill- 
 humour. To Hardwicke the King expressed his great 
 regard for Carteret, and declared : ' You would persuade 
 me to abandon my allies ; that shall never be the 
 obloquy of my reign, as it was of Queen Anne's ; I will 
 sufier any extremities rather than consent.' George 
 was no more inclined to abandon his minister than to 
 abandon his allies. Carteret had served him well ; 
 ingratitude was not among the King's many faults and 
 failings. Both he and the Prince of Wales made every 
 effort to spoil the Pelhams' plot. The Prince had 
 already tried to mediate between the rival ministers ; 
 but that was plainly hopeless. He then attempted to 
 gain over to Carteret's side the leading Whigs in oppo- 
 sition. Here again he failed, for the Pelhams had been 
 before him. Yet Carteret still continued minister ; and 
 Newcastle, slipping away from the bold words of the 
 Memorial, became once more all timid anxiety. He 
 began to speculate. Might not Carteret still remain 
 in the Government, but in a less commanding position ? 
 Without a glimpse of insight into his colleague's cha- 
 racter, Newcastle was inclining to fear that Carteret, if 
 dismissed, would throw himself into violent opposition ; 
 and with equal obtuseness he suggested that Carteret 
 might be induced to remain in tlie ministry if he were 
 made Lord President, and had the offer of the Garter. 
 But in that case, wJiat would the Walpole section say ? 
 and without them Newcastle had sadly to confess that 
 
 ' Newcastle to Hardwicke ; Nov. 3, 1744.
 
 POWEB 305 
 
 lie and his personal friends could not carry on the 
 Government even if it were put into their hands. 
 
 It was to the- head of the Walpole party that the 
 King, as a last resource, turned. He summoned Orford 
 from Houghton to London. Orford, reluctantly obey- 
 ing, arrived only a few days before parliament was to 
 meet, and very unwillingly gave his opinion. It was 
 not in favour of Carteret. Shortly after Carteret's 
 Government had been formed, Orford, i-eferring to a 
 coach accident at Eichmond which had been amusing 
 the political world, said to Carteret in the hearing of 
 the King and Newcastle : ' My Lord, whenever the Duke 
 is near overturning you, you have nothing to do but to 
 send to me, and I will save you.' The promise was 
 very badly kept, though Carteret doubtless felt little 
 surprise at that. Carteret now could do no more. 
 Parliamentary influence and envious personal passions 
 were united against him, and the King, with great 
 reluctance and ill-humour, agreed that he should resign. 
 On November 24 the Pelhams triumphed, and Carteret 
 ceased to be Secretary of State. 
 
 ' Who would not laugh at a world where so ridicu- 
 lous a creature as the Duke of Newcastle can overturn 
 ministries ! ' Horace Wal[)ole may laugh ; serious on- 
 lookers are likely to consider contemptuous disgust the 
 more appropriate feeling. The history of the rise and 
 fall of ministers ought to be the favourite reading of 
 the cynical ; and their favourite episode ought to be 
 the triumph of Newcastle over Carteret. Corruption, 
 treachery, and imbecility triumj)hed over patriotism 
 and jjenius. The thinii" was so false and shameless that 
 it has extorted angry ])rotests from observers who are 
 in no danger of being styled sentimentalists. ' It is 
 difficult to ^ec him TCartcrct] made the victim of so 
 
 X
 
 306 LORD CABTERET 
 
 contemptible an intrigue, without feeling some motions 
 of sympathy and indignation.' ^ The fawning falseness 
 of the Duke of Newcastle is the fitting centre of one of 
 the most disgraceful episodes in the history of political 
 intrigue. 
 
 1 William Godwin's Life of Pitt, 34, 35.
 
 307 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 GRANVILLE AXD THE FELHAMS. 
 1744-1754. 
 
 Rathek more than a month before his fall, Lord Carteret 
 had become Earl Granville. His mother, Countess of 
 Granville in her own right, died on October 18, 1744 ; 
 her son succeeded her in the title. 
 
 When the session opened on ISTovember 27, the par- 
 liamentary scene was very chaotic. So difficult had been 
 the Pelhams' task, that Granville had been removed only 
 three days before, and in that short interval the brothers 
 had already discovered that the fall of their rival was 
 by no means the end of their troubles and dangers. 
 ' The King,' Horace Walpole reported to his Florence 
 friend, 'has declared that my Lord Granville has his 
 opinion and affection ; the Prince warmly and openly 
 espouses him. Judge how agreeably the two brothers 
 will enjoy their ministry ! To-morrow the parliament 
 meets : all is suspense ! Everybody will be staring at 
 each other ! ' A first difficulty embarrassed the Pelhams 
 when they attempted to satisfy the heterogeneous mass 
 of politicians who had helped them to get rid of Gran- 
 ville. The discontented Whigs, represented by Chester- 
 field, had joined in the intrigue ; and Pitt, whose early 
 political career is not at all edifying, had concurred. 
 Tories also had been of the number, and all looked for 
 
 X 2
 
 308 LORD CAETEliET 
 
 their reward. With a kind of timid hopefulness the 
 brothers therefore thouufht to streiifythen themselves 
 against Granville, of whom they still stood in great 
 fear, b}' forming a mixed Government chosen from each 
 of the political parties ; a Government wdiich the cant 
 ])hrase of the day denominated Broad Bottom. The 
 arrangement was not altogether easy. The Whigs 
 grumbled that tliere should be any Tories at all ; the 
 Tories grumbled that tliey themselves were so few. 
 But a second difficulty hampered the negotiations still 
 more. The King was full of passionate resentment at 
 the way in which the Pelhams and their friends had 
 treated him ; and he was especially angry with New- 
 castle, whom he truly enough styled a jealous puppy, 
 unfit to be leading minister. He showed his irritated 
 annoyance by violent opposition to many of the intended 
 changes. When Chesterfield was proposed to him as 
 Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, the King burst out, ' He 
 siiall have nothing. I command you to trouble me no 
 more with such nonsense. Although I have been forced 
 to part with those I liked, I will never be induced to 
 take those who are disagreeable to me.' Eoyally angry 
 as he was, George in this instance had to yield, and 
 Chesterfield, conniiissioned with an embassy to the Hague 
 before going to Dublin, received a parting audience of 
 less than one minute. But as for Pitt, who had ex- 
 celled all in the unrestrained bitterness of party violence, 
 the Kinnj declined altocjether ; and Pitt's claim for the 
 present was not puslied. So troublesome were these 
 various disputes and differences that it was close upon 
 Christmas before the ministerial changes were completed. 
 Henry Pelham was Prime Minister ; Newcastle, probably 
 still believing that Hanover was in Scotland, became on 
 this occasion Secretary for the Soutli, wliere tliere was
 
 GRANVILLP AND THE PELHAMS 309 
 
 a fresh geographical field to conquer. Harrington took 
 the Northern department, as it was desirable that at 
 least one of the Foreifm Secretaries should know some- 
 thino; about foreign affairs. Hardwicke remained Lord 
 Chancellor ; Chesterfield went to Ireland ; other places 
 were filled by Bedford, Grafton, Gower, and Henry 
 Fox. 
 
 The Duke of Newcastle, who liad thus had his way 
 and set himself with appalling self-satisfaction to the 
 considerable task of govei'ning England, is the most curi- 
 ously ridiculous being who ever took a leading part in 
 English political affairs. Merely to set eyes upon the man, 
 to hear him talk, to see him move, gave one an irresistible 
 sense of the ridiculous. He never walked, but shuffled 
 along with a hasty trot, in a constantly confused and 
 bustling hurry. His talk was a bubbling stammer which 
 added the most ludicrous emphasis to the chaotic medley 
 of his private conversation. His public speaking was 
 equally absurd. He could not reason ; he rambled in- 
 conclusively through all the intricacies of his subject, 
 perpetually contradicting himself, yet quite unconscious 
 of his own imbecility. Hervey says that those for whom 
 he spoke generally wished tliat he had been silent, and 
 those who listened wished so always. The fussy, untidy 
 hurry that marked his talk was equally conspicuous in 
 his way of doing business. Tlie town said of him that 
 he lost half an hour every morning, and ran about all 
 the rest of tlie day unsuccessfully trying to overtake it. 
 He was full of agitated eagerness to plunge into political 
 business of all kinds, and when he had got it he did 
 not know how to do it. Meddling Avith everything, he 
 fretted and tormented liimself about everytliing. His 
 jealous imagination perpetually fancied and brooded 
 over slights which liad absolutely no existence, and tlien
 
 310 LORD CARTERET 
 
 he became peevish and miserable and quarrelsome. As 
 suddenly he would be all emotional and maudlin friend- 
 liness again, and flatter while he feared. In a letter of 
 his own in which he rather curiously says, ' I am not 
 vain of my abilities,' he remarks of himself: 'My temper 
 is such that I am often uneasy and peevish, and perhaps 
 what may be called wrong-headed, to my best friends, 
 but that always goes down with the sun, and passes off 
 as if nothing liad happened.' ^ It is true he was not 
 naturally a bad-tempered man, and he profusely prac- 
 tised the easy virtue of being abundantly good-natured 
 wdienever he had his own way. 
 
 Newcastle's foolishness was only equalled by his 
 falseness. It was part of the fidgety hurry of his 
 character that witli flurried effusiveness he scattered 
 promises right and left ; and he never kept any of them. 
 But more serious than the falseness of hastily stuttered 
 assurances was his persistent and invincible treachery 
 to his own political colleagues. His word, spoken or 
 written, could never be believed. WaljDole said that his 
 name was Perfidy, and Pitt plainly called him ' a very 
 great liar.' His life Avas one lonfj intriirue ; and false- 
 ness to every one who met him on the political road was 
 the sole principle to which he was unswervingly con- 
 sistent. The history of his political treachery is the 
 story of his political life. His boldness in underhand 
 intrio:ue was in sinijular contrast with his excessive 
 political and personal timidity. The Duchess of Yar- 
 mouth once told him tliat he had been brought up in 
 the fear of God and of his brother. When Chesterfield 
 introduced his bill for the amendment of the Calendar, 
 Newcastle was much alarmed at such darin^f reform. 
 He did not like new-fangled things, he said, and im- 
 
 ' Rrit. Mus. Add. MSS. 9,175; fol. 77-79. Oct. 14, 1739.
 
 GRANVILLE AND THE PELHAMS 811 
 
 plored Chesterfield to leave it alone. He was afraid to 
 sleep in a bedroom by himself, and would rather have a 
 footman lying on a pallet beside him than be solitary 
 for the night. He looked ready to drop with fear on 
 his first interview with George 11. ; for he had once 
 offended the Prince of Wales, who now was King ; the 
 passionate little Prince had fiercely trodden on his toe 
 and had roared, ' You rascal, I will find you ! ' The 
 town, to whom the ludicrous Duke was a perpetual fund 
 of amusement, declared that while the rebels were 
 marching south in 1745, Newcastle tremblingly shut 
 himself up in his room for a whole day, reflecting 
 whether he had not better declare for the Pretender. 
 He was never out of England till he was about sixty, 
 and then was much distressed at the thought of the 
 Channel crossino;. Once when attendino; the Kin^ to 
 Hanover he would only venture over in a yacht that 
 had recently weathered a heavy storm. But his timidity 
 took its most amusing form in his apprehensive anxiety 
 for his health. Even those who flattered him made a 
 jest of his frightened precautions and his troops of 
 physicians and apothecaries. A guest at Claremont 
 once felt somewhat unwell after eating a few mush- 
 rooms. Newcastle immediately ordered that all the 
 mushroom-beds at Claremont should be destroyed. He 
 passed liis life in the constant fear of catching cold. 
 Often in the iieat of summer, says Waldegrave, ' the 
 debates in tlie House of Lords would stand still, till 
 some window were shut, in consequence of the Duke's 
 orders. The peers would all be melting in sweat, that 
 the Duke might not catch cold.' He coddled himself 
 everywhere and in everything. When he had con- 
 quered his fear of tlie Channel so far as to attend the 
 King to Hanover, he pestered those who were to be his
 
 312 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 hosts on the route with the most ehaborate directions 
 for liis domestic security. While he was Secretary of 
 State and leader of the Government in the House of 
 Lords, he found time to write in his own hand letters of 
 most minute instruction on tliis absorbing topic. The 
 curious can still consult his manuscripts. He bids the 
 English minister at the Hague taste wines for him ; buy 
 a carriage for him, and be sure that the seats are 
 quilted ; actually sends him patterns of cloth for the 
 lining, and implores him to look anxiously to the linch- 
 pins and have plenty of spare tackle lest anything should 
 break. He does not leave all this to servants or secre- 
 taries, or to tlie female portion of his household, but 
 does it all at vast length with his own ministerial hand. 
 Above all he never forgets the airing of the beds. ' I 
 beg that they may be lain in every night for a month,' 
 he writes once when announcing an approaching visit 
 to the Hague. ' Pray let the beds be laid [sic) in from 
 tlie time you receive this letter,' he says on another 
 occasion. To get his feet wet, or even cold, was mar- 
 tyrdom to him. In the Abbey, at the funeral of George 
 n., the Duke of Cumberland suddenly felt himself 
 weighed down from behind. It was Newcastle, who 
 had stepped upon his train to avoid the chilliness of the 
 marble floor. Horace Walpole saw Newcastle, then 
 actually Prime Minister himself, at a ball in 1759, and 
 wrote to Montagu : — 
 
 ' He went into tlie hazard-room, and wriggled, and 
 shuffled, and lisped, and winked, and spied. . . . Nobody 
 went near him ; he tried to flatter people tluit were too 
 busy to mind him ; in sliort, he Avas quite disconcerted ; 
 his treachery used to be so sheathed in folly that he 
 w^as never out of countenance ; but it is plain he grows 
 old. To finish his confusion and anxiety, George Selwyn,
 
 GRANVILLE AND THE PELHAMS 313 
 
 Brand, and I went and stood near him, and in half whis- 
 pers, that he might hear, said, " Lord ! how he is broke ! 
 how old he looks! " Then I said, "This room feels very 
 cold : I believe there never is a fire in it." Presently 
 afterwards I said, "Well, I'll not stay here ; tliis room has 
 been washed to-day." In short, I believe we made liim 
 take a double dose of Gascoigne's powder when he 
 went home.' 
 
 Tlie dreary tract of history presided over by this 
 ridiculous yet cunningly treacherous being did not open 
 very brilliantly for the new ministry. The King made 
 no attempt to conceal his displeasure, and treated his 
 advisers very badly. In little more than a month after 
 Granville's fall, Newcastle was speculating on the prob- 
 able date of his own dismissal ; and Hardwicke, wlien in 
 an audience he begged the King for support and confi- 
 dence, could not for some time obtain a Avord in reply. 
 The royal favour was reserved entirely for Granville 
 and his friends. And public affairs did not go well. It 
 w^as professedly on account of his foreign policy that 
 the Pelhams had conspired against Granville ; yet the 
 first act-*of the reconstituted ministry declared that 
 there would be no alteration in foreign measures. The 
 cry was soon raised that though ministers had turned 
 Granville out they were simply continuing Granville's 
 policy ; and Newcastle recognised the truth and the 
 danger of the accusation when he wrote to his brother : 
 ' We must not, because we seem to be in, forget all we 
 said to keep Lord Granville out.' When on February 5, 
 1745, the Government proposed that the English troops 
 in Flanders should be continued during that year, their 
 adversaries declared that this was merely an old measure 
 from a new ministry; but Pelham found an enthusiastic 
 supporter in Pitt. He was very ill ; came down to the
 
 314 LORD CARTEBET 
 
 House with tlie mien and apparatus of an invalid;^ 
 some even tliought he could not Uve long, and in his 
 speech he spoke of himself as a dying man But he 
 used abundant gesture and rhetoric, and his eloquence 
 bore down all opposition. He professed to believe that 
 the whole question in 1745 differed from the question as 
 it stood the year before; for Granville had fallen, and all 
 romantic attempts to assist Austria in the recovery of what 
 Pitt called the avulsa membra Imperii had fallen with 
 him. In other words, Pitt in his rhetorical way accused 
 Granville of having directed his foreign policy towards 
 the recovery of Silesia for Maria Theresa; a ridiculously 
 untrue accusation aijainst the chief accent in obtaining 
 the Treaty of Breslau. ' Tlie object now is,' said Pitt, ' to 
 enable ourselves, by a close connection with Holland, 
 to hold out e(|idtable terms of peace both to friends 
 and foes, without prosecuting the war a moment longer 
 than is necessary to acquire a valid security for our own 
 rights and those of our allies, as established by public 
 treaties.' What else at any time had been Granville's 
 object? But the necessities of party politics are stern. 
 Pitt did not fail to flavour his compliments to Pelham 
 with invective of the usual style against Granville. The 
 pohcy sanctioned by the 'rash hand of a daring minister ' 
 was reproachfully contrasted with the moderate and 
 healing measures of the new patriotic administration. 
 A brightening dawn of national salvation had at last met 
 Pitt's patriotically straining eyes, and he would follow it 
 as far as it would lead him. It first of all led him into 
 a position wdiere a statesman with the most rudimentary 
 respect for consistency might have felt very uncom- 
 fortable. On no subject had Pitt so lavished his scorn- 
 ful rhetoric as on the connection between England and 
 
 ' Yorke's Parliamentarv Journal.
 
 GBANVILLE AND THE PELHAMS 315 
 
 Hanover, and nothing had more scandahsed his eloquent 
 patriotism than the English payment of Hanoverian 
 soldiers. How bitterly he had upbraided Granville for 
 this, and how his prophetic soul had been vexed by 
 visions of the degradation of England before a petty 
 Teutonic province ! Yet now, when the Pelhams, fearful 
 of seeming to continue everything which Granville had 
 done, with dull timidity proposed a jnggle by which 
 England, while appearing no longer to pay these troops, 
 should really continue to do so, Pitt at once supported 
 them with strong approval. An annual subsidy of 
 300,000/. had been voted to Maria Theresa since the 
 beginning of the war. Pelham now proposed that the 
 Queen sliould receive 500,000/., and it was perfectly well 
 understood that with the difference she was to su2:)port 
 the Hanoverian troops which the English Government 
 thereupon magnanimousl}^ resigned. Xobody was de- 
 ceived ; England was simply paying with the left liand 
 instead of witli the right. Ministers of course descanted, 
 with all the solemnity of aiigurs, on the paternal regard 
 of his majesty and the benevolent royal desire to put an 
 end to jealousies and heart-burnings. Augurs have to 
 talk like that. But Pitt also, who was free from any official 
 obligation, eulogised the wisdom and goodness of tlie 
 Prince who had so graciously condescended to accept 
 what was a mere sham and subterfuge ; and, when he 
 was attacked for his shameless inconsistency, he could 
 only fall back on the pleasant and convenient desire 
 that all that liad previously passed on this question 
 might be buried in oblivion. The equivocal arrange- 
 ment proposed by the Government was agreed to ; 
 but it was easy for Granville's friends to make some 
 very telling observations. The Pelham section of the 
 administration had only last year strongly approved of
 
 316 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 paying the Hanoverians ; yet now they Avere making 
 a virtue of seeming to dismiss them ; the Pitt section 
 had seemed to consider the very personal existence of 
 these men on the face of tlie earth as a national 
 grievance ; yet now they were voting English money 
 to support them. The whole transaction placed the 
 ministry in so bad a light that it was reckoned that 
 Granville, if he had chosen to show any resentment, 
 could Imve taken almost any revenge he pleased. 
 
 Granville did not interpose, and the Pelhams passed 
 through the rest of tlie parliamentary session with but 
 little trouble. But the King's displeasure with them was 
 not lessened, and the events of the year 1745 were not of 
 a kind to strengthen tlieir Government. Foreig'n affairs 
 had at first seemed in a hopeful way ; Frederick's failure 
 in Bohemia had raised Austrian expectations ; and, on 
 January 20, the death of the Emperor Charles VTI. 
 broke the union between France and Bavaria. The new 
 Bavarian Elector came to terms with Maria Theresa, 
 and sanguine observers lioped that this fortunate peace 
 mio;ht be the forerunner of a general one. Far from it. 
 The war still went on in its double fashion ; England 
 against France in tlie Netherlands, Frederick against 
 Austria in Germany ; rather like two separate wars than 
 the co-operation of allies. And England was fortunate 
 nowhere. The Duke of Cumberland had gone to the 
 Hague in high spirits, to put himself at the head of 
 the allied army ; but Saxe beat him at Fontenoy, and 
 town after town fell into the hands of the French. 
 Austria fared just as badly. In battle after battle 
 Frederick was victorious ; and one Aveek before the 
 close of the j^ear Maria Theresa was compelled to 
 yield, and to confirm to Prussia the cession of Silesia. 
 
 This state of things was sufficiently disgusting to
 
 GRANVILLE AND THE PELHAMS 317 
 
 George, and lie reckoned his ministers mainly respon- 
 sible for his misfortunes. The grand improvement in 
 home and foreign affairs which was to result from the 
 dismissal of Granville had certainly nowhere appeared. 
 The Kino; accused Newcastle of havincr cheated and 
 deceived him, and threw the Duke into deep distress. 
 When parliament ended in May 1745, Newcastle and 
 his allies told George that if he persisted in using them 
 so badly they could not face another session. But 
 George took no notice, and went off to Hanover with 
 Harrington, whom he did not yet hate more than all the 
 other ministers together. When the King returned, his 
 ill-humour increased. In September 1745 Newcastle 
 wrote to the Duke of Eichmond that the administration 
 had no power ; that the King would hardly vouchsafe 
 to them a word on business ; that he used bad language 
 to them in their private interviews, telling Pelham 
 further that he was incapable and a mere looker-on at 
 other men's policy, and roundly calling his advisers 
 ' pitiful fellows.'^ While the Government was in this 
 wretched situation at home, the French were making 
 unchecked progress in the Netherlands, and urgent 
 appeals for assistance were coming from the Dutch. 
 Granville counselled firmness and vigour ; but the Pel- 
 hams did little or nothing. They even ventured to choose 
 this period of irritation for a deliberate demand which 
 the King felt intolerable. They required that Pitt 
 should be made Secretary at War. The King at first 
 absolutely declined ; Pitt, he said, might have any office 
 but that. When the ministers continued their impor- 
 tunities, George bitterly complained that his action was 
 being forced ; and he lamented to Lord Bath that he 
 
 ' Historical MSS. Couiiuissioii; Report I. llo. MSS. of tbe Duke of 
 liichmond.
 
 318 LOBD CAIITERET 
 
 was not a King but a prisoner. On Bath's advice he 
 positively refused that special appointment for Pitt, and 
 Bath admitted to Harrington that the advice was his. 
 ' They who dictate in private should be employed in 
 public,' dryly replied the Secretary ; and though Pitt 
 gave up his claim, and the Government acquiesced in 
 the refusal, the Pelhams resolved to give the King a 
 lesson which he would hardly be likely to forget. 
 
 On January 17, 1746, Charles Stuart had de- 
 feated General Hawley at Falkirk. It was while a 
 serious rebellion was still successfully fighting against 
 the sovereign that the responsible ministers of the crown 
 resolved to resign. There was no question of principle 
 at issue ; while English troops were fighting a Pretender 
 the Pelhams threw up the Government as a mere specu- 
 lation in personal and party tactics. They seem to have 
 persuaded themselves, with good enough reason, that 
 the King was anxious to get rid of them as soon as 
 public affairs would allow. They resolved to anticipate 
 him. Sacrificing every feeling of responsibility and 
 patriotism to their jealousy of a dreaded rival and to 
 their determination to let the King feel that they them- 
 selves were indispensable, they produced a political crisis 
 in the midst of a military rebellion. On February 10 
 their scheme, well calculated with ingenious selfishness, 
 was started by the resignation of Lord Harrington. He 
 angered George by the rough indecency of his behaviour. 
 Instead of returning the purse and seals into the King's 
 hands, he flung them down on the table and declared 
 he could no longer serve with honour.^ Newcastle, who 
 resigned the same day, managed better with his master. 
 He himself wrote that in their interview the King was 
 ' very civil, kind enougli, and we parted very good 
 
 ' Lord Marchmont's Diary; Marchmont Papers, I. 182.
 
 GBANVILLE AND THE PELHAMS 319 
 
 friends.' The Government had now lost both its Foreign 
 Secretaries. Instantly the seals of both departments 
 were sent to Granville : the one for himself, the other 
 for whomever he miglit select. On the very next 
 day, Granville attended at Court as minister, and de- 
 spatched a circular to the ministers abroad, informing 
 them that the King ' has been pleased to appoint me to 
 resume the place of principal Secretary of State, and 
 to execute the business of both offices for the present.' 
 Bath was made First Lord of the Treasury ; Granville 
 and Bath together were to rearrange the dilapidated 
 administration. 
 
 So far well ; but on this same day of Granville's 
 appointment, Pelham, whom Granville had no wish to 
 remove from the ministry, also resigned, and was followed 
 by many other members of the Government. It was 
 announced that other important resignations would take 
 place next day. The ingenious scheme of the Pelhams 
 was thus evident at once. In order to distress the 
 King, and to make the formation of a new ministry 
 impossible, they had induced every important member 
 of the existing administration, and many who were the 
 very reverse of important, to follow them into retire- 
 ment. The success of such well-laid plans could hardly 
 in any case have been long delayed, though authori- 
 ties variously estimate the amount of support on which 
 Granville might have fairly counted. On one event, 
 however, Granville can hardly have reckoned. On 
 February 12, Lord Bath, in a fit of frightened irreso- 
 lution, resigned the office which he had only accepted 
 the day before. He had taken Lord Carhsle with 
 him to Court, to present liim as one of the new min- 
 isters ; but instead of introducing him to the King, Bath 
 himself went in alone to a private audience, resifjned
 
 320 LOIW C ARTE BET 
 
 his own seals, and then ' sneaked down the back-stair, 
 leaving Lord Carlisle kicking his heels at the fire in 
 the outer rooni.'^ Thus the difficult attempt which, by 
 the King's desire, Granville was making, was practically 
 ruined a few hours after its commencement. Horace 
 Walpole gives a lively account of the conclusion of the 
 affair. Lord Bath, says Walpole, in a letter very weak 
 on the grammatical side, 
 
 ' Went to the King, and told him that he had tried 
 the House of Commons, and found it would not do. 
 Bounce ! went all the project into shivers, like the vessels 
 in Ben Jonson's Alchymist, when they are on the brink 
 of the philosopher's stone. The poor King, wdio, from 
 being fatigued with the Duke of Newcastle, and sick 
 of Pelham's timidity and compromises, had given in to 
 this mad hurly-burly of alterations, was confounded 
 with having floundered to no purpose, and to find him- 
 self more than ever in the power of men he hated, 
 shut himself up in his closet, and refused to admit any 
 more of the people who were pouring in upon him 
 Avith white sticks, and golden keys, and commissions, 
 etc. At last he sent for Winnino;ton, and told him he 
 was the only honest man about him, and should have 
 the honour of a reconciliation, and sent him to Mr. 
 Pelham, to desire they would all return to their em- 
 ployments.'^ 
 
 It was on February 14, two days after Bath's resig- 
 nation, that the King was forced to this determination ; 
 and on that same day Granville resigned, and Newcastle 
 and Harrington resumed their places. Lord Marcli- 
 mont saw Granville come out from his parting audience 
 with the King. ' He met the Duke of Newcastle going 
 
 ' Marclwiont Papers, I. 174. 
 
 - II. Walpole to Mann; Feb. 14, 1746.
 
 GRANVILLE AND THE PELHAMS 321 
 
 in ; and they made eacli other a dry bow, and passed 
 on.' That was a curious Httle scene, full of the sarcasm 
 of politics. The imbecile Duke had once more defeated 
 the man of genius. It is not probable tliat on this 
 particular occasion Granville expected anything else. 
 In obedience to the King, he had cheerfully made the 
 attempt ; but he seems to have done it against his own 
 judgment, and he certainly did not deceive himself 
 with expectations of success. He did not think it 
 necessary to inform the ambassador at Florence of 
 his appointment ; before a courier could get there, he 
 said, he sliould be out of power again. On a later 
 occasion he distinctly declared that he was forced into 
 the thing by Lord Bath,^ whose own conduct on the 
 occasion fully justified the nickname of ' weathercock ' 
 Pulteney. But it is not necessary to exaggerate the 
 effect which Bath's fright and betrayal produced on 
 the new arrangements. It only hastened what coidd 
 not in any case have been long in coming. Against 
 the overwhelming parliamentary influence of the Pel- 
 hams it was impossible to stand ; and the ])rothers 
 knew that tliey had resigned only to be recalled. 
 They perhaps were not even much surprised that the 
 summons came to them so very quickl3\ Bath had 
 been First Lord of the Treasury for one day ; Gran- 
 ville had been Secretary of State for less than four. 
 
 To small wits this curious political episode was a 
 godsend and source of mild rapture. Gentle dulness 
 feared to walk the streets by night, lest it should be 
 seized by the press-gang and forced into the Cabinet. 
 In a moment of inspiration it was discovered that the 
 friends of Granville were Gran villains. Other brillian- 
 cies, hardly inferior to these, dazzled the political world. 
 
 ' II. Walpole to Mann ; June 18, 1751. 
 
 Y
 
 3?2 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 But the King was not among tlie laughers. Granville 
 himself took the thino- in the most fjood-humoured 
 way ; but George was full of anger and vexation. He 
 asked Bath to write a full account of the way in which 
 his ministers had treated him. ' Eub it in their noses,' 
 he said royally, ' and if it be possible make them 
 ashamed.' To the Duke of Newcastle he called Har- 
 rington a rascal ; to Harrington he called the Duke a 
 fool. He treated Harrington with special incivility, 
 and never forgot his o-rudo-e a2;ainst him : for he had 
 been the first minister to resign. Four years later, 
 when there was a question of some official appointment 
 for Harrington, the King flew into a rage. ' He said the 
 generalsliip of marines was to be the reward of every- 
 body who flew in his face : that tliat was the case of 
 that old rascal Stair : that my Lord Harrington should 
 have his ears cut ofl'. ... At last he said, " He de- 
 serves to be hanged ; and I am ready to tell him so." ' ^ 
 Pelham, not so liardened to abuse as his brother, was 
 soon attain threatening? resionation. He told the Kino- 
 he would rather Granville should liave his place than 
 keep it himself. The retort was obvious. ' You make 
 it impossible for liini to have it, and then want me to 
 give it to him.' Gossip of the town did indeed soon 
 point to Granvihe as destined speedily to be minister 
 again ; Init tlie King had received his lesson, and did 
 not forget it. Ministers are the King in this country, 
 he liad once said to Lord Chancellor Hardwicke ; and 
 he now yielded with angry disgust. ' Go back? — yes. 
 but not without conditions ! ' Harrini^ton had insisted 
 when tlie Pelhams resumed their places after Granville's 
 four days. One of the conditions concerned Pitt, and 
 the sure sign of the King's surrender was the admission 
 
 ' Add. MSS. 0,224 ; fol. IC).;;. Letttr of Newcastle, Oct. 2\, 1750.
 
 GBANVILLE AND THE PELHAMS 323 
 
 of Pitt to office. Tears were seen in his eyes when Pitt 
 first appeared in the drawing-room to kiss hands/ 
 
 For two years more after tliis sliort ministerial 
 crisis the war in the Netherlands dragged drearily on 
 under the dull direction of the Pelliams. It was one 
 long story of mismanagement and failure. Duiing the 
 Scotch rebellion, English help was withdrawn from the 
 Austrians in Flanders, and the French were left to do 
 as they pleased. Their successes were numerous ; 
 nearly all the Austrian Netherlands fell into their 
 hands. Yet they began to think of peace. They had 
 lost their Bavarian alliance ; they had lost Prussia when 
 Frederick had made peace with Maria Theresa ; they 
 lost active help from Spain by the death of the Spanish 
 King in the summer of 1746. In these circumstances, 
 a Congress, as futile as those at Cambrai and Soissons, 
 was opened at Breda in September, and sat wearily 
 there till March 1747, when it broke up, having done 
 nothing. Tlie war, with its long list of losses and 
 defeats, continued. The Pelliams were not happier in 
 their management of their own domestic concerns. 
 Party politics were in a more or less confused condition, 
 and party feeling was running higli. It was in this 
 year 1746 that Gibbon, a schoolboy of nine years old, 
 was in his own words ' reviled and bufieted ' because 
 his ancestors had been Tories. The ministers them- 
 selves were quarrelling with one another. Harrington, 
 tlic one Secretary, very naturally wislied to put an 
 end to the war ; Newcastle, the otlier, terribly anxious 
 to gain tlie King's personal fjivour, desired tliat the 
 wretched military business sliould continue. The 
 dispute was only closed by the dismissal of Harrington 
 with a heavy pension ; though in official language he 
 
 ' Glover's Memoirs of a Celebrated I'oliticol and Literary Character. 
 
 Y 2
 
 32-i LOED CABTEBET 
 
 resioiied on account of liis afi^e and infirmities. Beini:f 
 
 O o O 
 
 old and infirm, lie was naturally made Lord-Lieutenant 
 of Ireland. On October 29, the day after Harring- 
 ton's resignation, Chesterfield took the vacant place ; 
 anxiously pressed to accept by Newcastle, who feared 
 that if he refused the King would again send for Gran- 
 ville. Chesterfield accepted, hardly, as he said, knowing 
 whether he was on his head or his heels ; and the 
 chaotic condition of the ministry became every month 
 more evident. Chesterfield's conversations with Lord 
 Marchmont give a most curious picture of the way in 
 wliicli the so-called Government of En<:jland conducted 
 the nation's affairs. The King hated all liis advisers ; 
 but, unable to get rid of them, left them to do as they 
 pleased, bitterly saying that he was not competent to 
 assist them in cases of difficulty. ' No real business was 
 done,' said Chesterfield to Marchmont ; ' there was no 
 plan ; and, in differences of opinion, the King bid them 
 do what they thought fit, and continued very indolent, 
 saying that it signified nothing, as his son, for whom he 
 did not care a louse, was to succeed him, and would 
 live long enough to ruin us all ; so that there was no 
 Government at all.' Li October 1747 Chesterfield told 
 Marchmont that he did not know where the Govern- 
 ment lived. There was no Government ; they met, and 
 talked, and then said. Lord ! it is late ; when shall we 
 meet to talk over this asfain ? In that same month, the 
 differences between Newcastle and his brother were so 
 extreme that they could not speak to each other 
 without falling into a passion, and actually declined to 
 meet. The leader in the House of Commons would not 
 see the leader in the House of Lords. Pelham and 
 Chesterfield were anxious for peace ; Newcastle, not 
 understanding what he was talking about, urged the 
 
 f
 
 GRANVILLE AND THE PELHAMS 825 
 
 continuance of the war. Before the year was out 
 Chesterfield, disgusted with his personal situation, and 
 declaring that what might become of the other ministers 
 was no business of his, resolved to resio'u. He did so 
 in February 1748; 'on account of the ill state of liis 
 health,' wrote Newcastle with unblushino; officialism. 
 The Secretaryships were once more shuffled. Newcastle 
 returned to his old Northern Department; the Duke of 
 Bedford became Secretary for the South. 
 
 Chesterfield on resigning had left behind him a pro- 
 test against the prolongation of the war. But already 
 the war was practically over. The King's speech at 
 the opening of the session in November 1747 had 
 announced, without open sarcasm, tlie meeting of one 
 more Euro|)ean Congress. This Congress duly com- 
 menced to assemble at Aixda-Chapelle in March 174S, 
 Lord Sandwich being the chief English representative. 
 On the last daj^ of April, England, France, and Holland, 
 finding it impossible to overcome the vexatious delays 
 of Austria and Spain, privately signed preliminaries of 
 peace on their own account, leaving the others to agree 
 at their leisure. Fiohtinj? therefore ceased ; and on 
 October 18 the definite Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was 
 signed by all parties. Thus at length the unfortunate 
 war was over ; yet the peace created no enthusiasm, 
 and even little approval, in England. It was evident 
 from tlie first that the so-called peace was only a 
 temporary arrangement which practically concluded 
 nothing. Eno-land had been at war with France and 
 Spain ; this fantastic settlement left the leading ques- 
 tions of dispute between the tliree countries still un- 
 decided. The very question which had been the 
 original cause of the war, the Spanish claim of Eight 
 of Search, was not even mentioned in the treaty ; and
 
 wliilc England acquired Cape Breton, nothing was done 
 towards defining an intelligible boundary-line between 
 the English and French possessions in Xorth America. 
 The treaty or armistice of Aix-la-Cliapelle left all this 
 in the vague, and was little more than the commence • 
 ment of a truce which managed to last for eight 
 years. 
 
 The political history of England during the two or 
 three years which immediately followed the peace is of 
 the very slightest interest. It is hardly to be called 
 political history at all. Parliament was tranquil and 
 doin^y nothincr • in the session of 1750 tlic fullest House 
 and largest division were on a disputed turuj^ike bill. 
 A little languid agitation accompanied the patronage 
 which it pleased the Prince of Wales to give to such 
 mediocre opposition as there was ; a Princely patronage 
 from which Granville held quite aloof. Otherwise, the 
 political world found its sole excitement in the personal 
 squabbling of Newcastle with members of his own 
 Government, and in the shifting schemes and combina- 
 tions with which he was perpetually busied. Having 
 already disgusted and alienated Harrington and Ohester- 
 iield, Newcastle was now elaborating a quarrel witli the 
 Duke of Bedford, As the Pelham Government origin- 
 ally stood, Bedford had been at the head of the Admiralty. 
 When he was promoted to the Secretaryship of State, 
 his influence secured the Admiralty appointment for 
 his friend Sandwich. Tlie intimacy between Sandwich 
 and Bedford annoyed Newcastle ; and the very friendly 
 intercourse of the Kiuij^'s favourite son Cumberland with 
 the Bedford party roused all the Prime Minister's jealous 
 alarm and treacherous timidity. In his usual way he 
 becjan to scheme for Bedford's removal. He was so 
 frightened, and so willing to humiliate himself when-
 
 GBAXVILLE AND THE PELHAMS 327 
 
 ever he seemed to see the sliglitest menace to his own 
 personal power, that he even attempted to win over 
 Granville to his side, and in June 1749 offered him the 
 Lord-Lieutenancy of Ireland ; but Granville refused. 
 Having ftiiled here, and finding no success in his schemes 
 for dismissing his colleague, iSTewcastle was soon going 
 tlirougli his favourite performance and threatening to 
 resign. The ministers unkindly told him tliat he might 
 do as he pleased. Of course he did not resign ; and in 
 April 1750, overcoming his dread of the Channel for 
 the second time in his life, he accompanied the King to 
 Hanover. From the Hague he poured out his distresses 
 to his brother :— 
 
 ' I think it a little hard tliat the Duke of Cumber- 
 land and the Princess Amelia should use me so cruelly 
 as they have done : excommunicate me from all society, 
 set a kind of brand or mark upon me and all who think 
 with me ; and set up a new, ludvuown, factious young 
 party [Sandwich and Bedford] to rival me, and nose me 
 everywhere. This goes to my heart : I am sensible, if 
 I could have submitted and cringed to such usage, the 
 public appearances would have been better, and perhaps 
 some secret stabs have -been avoided; but I was too 
 proud and too innocent to do it.' ^ 
 
 How could proud innocence endure the stabbing 
 and the branding and the nosing any longer ? New- 
 castle accordingly now began to lose and bewilder 
 himself in a confused medley of ridiculous or impossible 
 plans. If Bedford could not be got out of the way, 
 Newcastle would himself cease to be Secretary of State, 
 and become Lord President. Could not Sir Thomas 
 Robinson, or even Chesterfield, once more take the 
 seals ? Hardwicke immediately informed the Duke that 
 
 ' Coxe's IWuun, TT. 330. Mr.y 20, 1750.
 
 828 LOBD CAnTEBET 
 
 tlie ministry would not accept Robinson, and the King 
 would not accept Chesterfield. Then Newcastle blandly 
 suggested Granville, and with amusing superciliousness 
 assured Pelham that Granville would make a very good 
 Secretary, and would be the greatest conceivable assist- 
 ance to them in their management of foreign affairs, 
 Newcastle even professed to be no longer afraid of 
 Granville. ' My Lord Granville is no more the terrible 
 man ; non eadem est fetas^ nOn menx.' When Pelham, 
 who probably knew better, replied tliat if Granville 
 were made Secretary of State he would himself resign, 
 Newcastle immediately declared that Granville was of 
 course out of the question. 'I o pinidtre nothmg,' \\q 
 wrote in liis terrible jargon to Hardwicke. 'Lord 
 Granville is dropped ; I will never mention him more.' ^ 
 So schemes were sketched only to vanish ; and in 
 November, when the King and Newcastle returned, 
 thino;s were in a more confused condition than ever. 
 They rapidly became worse. When Pelham at last 
 ventured to propose to the King the removal of Bedford, 
 the King absolutely refused. Newcastle was in despair. 
 He would resijxn, and Granville miijht form a new minis- 
 try. He quarrelled afresli with his brother, and tliey 
 refused to meet except on public affairs. The confusion, 
 tlie faction, the endless intricrnino- were so bewilderino; 
 that even sneering and cynical onlookers of the 
 Horace Walpole stamp confessed tliemselves sick of 
 the contemptible scene. 
 
 The political imbroglio seemed almost at its worst, 
 when an unexpected event came to the assistance of 
 the Pelliams. On March 31, 1751, the Prince of Wales 
 died. Tlie Leicester House opposition, of which party 
 Bolingbroke was the only member much above medio- 
 
 ' Add. MSS. 9,224 ; fol. 80, 81.
 
 GRANVILLE AND THE PELHAMS 829 
 
 crity, was thus broken up, and the Pellianis were corre- 
 spondingly reheved. They now felt strong enough to 
 have their own way about Bedford, in spite of the 
 King's refusal to dismiss liim. By dismissing Sandwich, 
 who owed his place to Bedford, they woidd make it 
 impossible for I^edford himself to keep office. In June 
 Sandwich was removed, and Bedford resigned next 
 day. Two or three days later a more startling an- 
 nouncement was made. Pelham liad repeatedl}?- and 
 positively declared, in public and in private, that he 
 would never again serve as a colleague with Granville. 
 Yet on June 17 Granville became Lord President of 
 the Council in the Government of tlie Pelhams. Pro- 
 bably each side felt its need of the other. Newcastle 
 during his residence at Hanover had never been weary 
 of urging upon his brother how useful Granville would 
 be to them in their foreign politics, and how dangerous 
 opposition might become if Granville should clioose to 
 put himself at the head of it. Granville, on his side, 
 had learnt from personal experience that it was im- 
 possible for any statesman to hold power if opposed by 
 the Pelhams' parliamentary influence. After all that 
 liad passed during so many years a perfect reconciliation 
 was hardly to be hoped for ; but a common under- 
 standing was arranged in a very informal way. Gran- 
 ville and Pelliam met privately at the house of a friend ; 
 one of tlie two, it is impossible now to say which, 
 arriving there in a mysteriously mufflcd-up condition, 
 unrecognisable to any one. They talked to each other 
 with considerable leserve. But their liost was deter- 
 mined that tlie negotiation sliould not fail. At the 
 riglit moment lie produced, with perfect success, a good 
 supper and good wine. The preliminary coolness soon 
 passed away, and next day it was known to all tlie
 
 330 LORD CARTEBET 
 
 world that union was restored between tliem.^ But the 
 agreement was one of convenience and toleration far 
 more than of eager co-operation. Gi'anville told the 
 Pclliams that lie would Avork liarmoniously with tliem, 
 and he kept liis word. On the day before he accepted 
 office he wrote to Newcastle : — 
 
 ' Your Grace may depend on my cordial attach- 
 ment, which I shall explain furtlier when I see you. I 
 am glad that Mr. Pelham has told you that he will 
 support your measures jointly ; which is all 1 can 
 desire, dreading nothing so much as disputes, which 
 I will never occasion or promote.' 
 
 But Granville's personal opinion of the Pelhams of 
 course remained what it had always been ; and tlie 
 Pelhams feared Granville hardly less as a friend than 
 as an enemy. Observers thought that they had good 
 ground for fear, and that Granville would soon be 
 master again in fact if not in name. ' Lord Granville,' 
 wrote Horace Walpole on the day after the appoint- 
 ment, ' is actually Lord President, and, by all outward 
 and visible signs, something more ; in short, if he don't 
 overshoot himself, the Pelhams have ; the King's favour 
 to him is visible, and so much credited that all the in- 
 cense is offered to him.' Writing from memory many 
 years later, the same observer reports that when Gran- 
 ville was wished joy on the reconciliation he replied : 
 ' " I am the King's President ; I know nothing of the 
 Pelhams ; I liave nothing to do with them." The very 
 
 day he kissed hands, he told Lord D , one of the 
 
 dirtiest of their creatures, " Well, my lord, here is the 
 common enemy returned." ' ^ The anecdote may be 
 
 ^ Mr. Nugent, afterwards Earl Nugent, at whose house Granville and 
 Pelham met, told the particulars as above to the House of Commons in 
 1784. Farlimnentary History, XXIV. 6.34. 
 
 "^ Last Ten Years of Gcori/c he Second, ^. 171.
 
 GRANVILLE AXD THE PELHAMS 331 
 
 true or false ; less likely perhaps to be false than true. 
 Henry Pelliaui at least would liave believed it. He had 
 yielded to the King and to his brother, and had consented 
 to Granville's return, though people found it difficult 
 honourably to reconcile Pelham's acquiescence with his 
 often-repeated statements on the subject ; but he was at 
 least unfailingly consistent in his suspicion and dread 
 of Granville. More than a year after Granville had 
 joined the ministry, Pelham was convinced that he was 
 only lying by, waiting his opportunity which was sure 
 to come. In September 1752 Pelliam wrote to his 
 brother : — 
 
 ' I have no reserve with regard to Lord Granville. 
 I am resolved to live well with him, which I can easily 
 do if we have no public meetings ; for he takes care we 
 shall have no private ones. My opinion of him is the 
 same it always was ; he hurries forward all these Ger- 
 man affairs, because he thinks he shows his parts and 
 pleases the King ; in both which I tliink he is mistaken.^ 
 But believe me, he lies by ; he has as much vanity and 
 ambition as he ever had, and he sees the King's personal 
 inclination to his ministers is as it was ; he hopes there- 
 fore in all these contradictory circumstances that some- 
 thing may fall out, and then he is sure to succeed ; in 
 which I believe he is in the rio-ht. . . , Notwithstandinof 
 this, when we meet at the Regency Council, we laugh, 
 and are as good friends as can be.' '^ 
 
 Pelham's fears and suspicions were groundless. 
 Three years of unbroken quiet passed by, and party 
 politics seemed no longer to be in existence. It Avas 
 then not Granville but Pelham himself who, in a quite 
 inevitable way, opened the gates of strife again. 
 
 * In both which the mistake was Pelliara's own. 
 - Coxe, l'e//uim, 11.452.
 
 822 LORD CARTERET 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LAST YEAES. 
 1764-1763. 
 
 Granville lived nearly twelve years after becoming 
 President of the Council, and held that office uninter- 
 ruptedly till the day of his death. But his active 
 political career was practically over. He continued to 
 take a keen interest in political affairs ; and in the ex- 
 citing domestic and foreign questions which filled the 
 closing years of the reign of George H. he was always 
 ready with witty speech and experienced counsel. But 
 in the strife of parties he declined now to play any 
 other part than that of adviser and mediator. He held 
 a dignified office ; while Secretaries came and went, he 
 continued to be the King's President ; his personal posi- 
 tion was influential ; his advice carried with it the weight 
 of the statesman who had been engaged in public affairs 
 from the time when he had left the University. Prom 
 the vulgar self-seeking of politics he had always been 
 free; and now, when years were coming upon him and 
 health was failing, its legitimate ambitions had no over- 
 powering attraction for him. Tv.dce again he was 
 asked to take the highest place, and become Prime 
 Minister of England, but each time he refused. Political -'^ - 
 fate had not always used him too kindly ; he had been 
 thwarted and baulked by some of the most insignificant
 
 LAST YEABS 333 
 
 beings who ever brought pohtics down to their own 
 low level. But he now contested it with them no longer, 
 ' resigned, in a big contemptuous way, to have had his 
 really considerable career closed upon him by the 
 smallest of mankind ; ' ^ and when the blundering in- 
 capacity of Newcastle put revenge within easy reach, 
 Granville refused to take it. 
 
 The three years' political quiet ended when Pelham 
 unexpectedly died on March 6, 1754. 'I shall now 
 have no more peace,' said the King ; and he spoke the 
 exact truth. For more tlian tliree years the political 
 world at home was a chaotic scene, where ministers 
 and ministries rose and fell as faction and intrigue de- 
 manded. And when the miserable exhibition was over 
 and a strong Government held undisputed power, Eng- 
 land was en(xao:ed in a war which was not conckided 
 when the King died. The strictly political history of 
 the last six years of the reign of George II. is concerned 
 ahnost exclusively with these two series of events. They 
 M ere unconnected at first, but soon ran into eacli other, 
 so that the settlement of what was originally a mere 
 vulgar rivalry in corrupt personal politics had an im- 
 portant influence upon a war which affected three 
 continents. 
 
 It was easy to fmd a successor to Pelham's office. 
 For a moment, Newcastle had gone into transports of 
 grief for his brother's death, and with liis customary effu- 
 siveness had declared that he would give up everything, 
 and have nothing more to do with public affairs. But 
 of course he soon recovered ; and, being evidently born 
 to govern England, appointed liimself Prime Minister 
 in his brother's place. But lie could not also appoint 
 himself leader in the House of Couinions ; and as all the . 
 
 ' Carlyk's Frederick, Buok XVIII. Chap. III.
 
 334 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 prominent members of the Government were now in the 
 House of Lords there was no one to whom, as a matter 
 of course, the leadership of the Commons seemed to 
 belong. Political gossip was soon busy Avith many 
 names, Chesterfield, contemplating the confusion from 
 his comparative retirement, in his usual religious way 
 thanked God that he was now nothing but a bystander, 
 and found cynical amusement in watching the mysterious 
 looks and im]:)ortant shrugs of the small blockheads of 
 politics, whose mystic solemnity on such occasions is 
 sometimes seiiously taken by simple persons. When 
 all the irresponsible gossiping was over, it was found 
 that practically there was onl}^ one man of leading- 
 ability in the House to whom the vacant post could be 
 offered. Murray, the Attorney- General, capable of hold- 
 ing any position, found no attraction in politics, and re- 
 served himself for the highest seats of his own profession. 
 Pitt, Paymaster of the Forces, had little influence in the 
 House where he had sat for nearly twenty years. He 
 liad confined liis intimacy to a small knot of personal 
 relatives, keeping himself apart from the mass of mem- 
 bers in a hardly disguised scornful isolation. He was 
 also angrily hated by the King, and to Pitt, with his 
 overwhelmincT reverence for the roval oflice even in the 
 person of George H., this seemed a calamity against 
 Avhich it was useless to strive. It is humiliating to read 
 the words written at tliis time by the man who, three 
 years later, was himself the real ruler of England : — 
 
 ' All ardour for public business is really extinguished 
 in my mind, and I am totally deprived of all consider- 
 ation by which alone I could have been of any use. 
 The w^eight of irremovable royal displeasure is a load 
 too great to move under ; it has sunk and broke me. I 
 succumb, and wish for nothing but a decent and inno-
 
 LAST YEABS 335 
 
 cent retreat, wherein I may no longer, by continning 
 in the pubhc stream of promotion, for ever stick fast 
 agronnd, and afford to the world the ridicnlous spectacle 
 of being passed by every boat that navigates the same 
 river.' ^ 
 
 Mnrray and Pitt being thus out of the question, 
 Newcastle's choice seemed almost necessarily confined 
 to Henry Fox, the Secretary at War. Strictly speaking. 
 Fox had no more genuine political ambition than Murray, 
 or at least lie soon renounced whatever real political 
 aspirations may once have attracted him. But he did 
 care very much for what could be made out of politics, 
 and was miserably willing to drop all aims at a distin- 
 guished career and to do dirty work in the dregs of 
 parliamentary life simply for the money which his 
 degradation gained him. For no higher object, he was 
 content to earn the sneers of his contemporaries and 
 the vexed scorn of posterity. Granville in vain urged 
 him the otlier way. Fox had not yet, however, fallen 
 so low as this ; and though he sliowed an excessive 
 eagerness to seize Pelham's vacant place, his conduct in 
 the negotiations that followed contrasts very favourably 
 with the proceedings of Newcastle. Pell) am had died 
 at six o'clock in the morning. Before eight Fox was at 
 tlie Marquis of Hartington's, starting the necessary 
 arrangements. At first they seemed to go successfully 
 enoufrh. Fox himself was to be leader of tlie House of 
 Commons and Secretary of State. He announced it to 
 a friend, witli candid self-criticism : — 
 
 ' Know then tlie Duke of Newcastle o-oes to the 
 head of the Treasury, and I am to be Secretary of 
 State, of course Cabinet Councillor, and at the head of 
 the House of Commons. . . . Now what do you think 
 
 ' Chatham Correspondence, I. lOo. April (i, 17-51.
 
 336 LORD CARTEBET 
 
 of this new Secretary of State ? Why, that lie is got 
 into the place in England that he is most unfit for. So 
 he thinks, I can assure you.' ^ 
 
 Newcastle, though he reserved to himself the actual 
 disposal of the money spent in parliamentary corrup- 
 tion — the secret-sisrvice money, as official pleasantness 
 politely called it — promised that Fox shoidd always know 
 how the gifts of a grateful minister had been distributed. 
 But the Duke, who watched over the bribery depart- 
 ment with a timid and jealous exclusiveness, soon began 
 to fear that he had offered the new Secretary too much. 
 He was anxious to take back his word, yet he could 
 not deny the agreement which he had made with Lord 
 Hartington, the manager of the negotiations. With 
 characteristic deception, Newcastle devised a subter- 
 fuge which allowed him to slink out of his difficulty. 
 He might, he said in his sleek way, have used words 
 which meant what Hartington and Fox had understood 
 them to mean ; but certainly he himself had never 
 understood them so ; he had been thrown into such 
 anxiety and affliction and grief by his brother's death 
 that his memory was all upset ; but he had never in- 
 tended that Fox should have anything to do with secret 
 money or patronage. Fox, reasonably enough asking 
 how he was to manage the House of Commons if he 
 did not know who was bribed and who not, declined to 
 accept the leadership on these niggardly terms, and 
 resigned the seals on March 14, the day after he had 
 received them, Newcastle then tried a most ludicrous 
 experiment. As he could not get a man of ability to 
 accept office on the mere footing of a clerk, he resolved 
 to appoint a so-called minister who would do what he 
 
 ' Fox to Lord Uigby : March 12, 1754. Eiyhth lirport of the Hist. 
 MSS. Commission, p. 1?20,
 
 LAST YEARS 337 
 
 was told and ask no questions. He selected Sir Thomas 
 Robinson, the rather dull Vienna diplomatist of the 
 Silesian war times ; a man who knew nothing whatever 
 about parliamentary affairs. Robinson was actually 
 made Secretary of State, and set at the head of the House 
 of Commons. The dual leadership was indeed most 
 curious. The head of the Government in the House of 
 Lords was little better than an idiot ; the leader in the 
 House of Commons did not know the elementary lan- 
 guage of parliamentary life, and as a speaker was so 
 ludicrously absurd that his best friends could not keep 
 serious faces while they listened to him. 
 
 The opportunity was too tempting to be lost by Pitt 
 and Fox. Pitt, slighted by Newcastle and neglected by 
 the Court, could not be enthusiastic in support of the 
 Government of which he was an inferior member ; Fox 
 had just been refused a distinguished office because he 
 would not accept it on ignominious conditions. The two 
 subordinates, therefore, lately not on very good terms 
 with each other, began to draw together. When 
 Parliament met in November 1754, Pitt and Fox made 
 Robinson's life a misery to him. Pitt did not spare even 
 Murray and Newcastle himself; Fox actively assisted 
 Robinson in making himself ridiculous. Robinson 
 pathetically declared that he had not desired the high 
 office which he held. Pitt coolly replied that if any one 
 else had wished it, Robinson would not liave had it. 
 Steady party men voted with t]ie Government, but 
 laughed while they did so. Far less than all this was 
 enough to frighten Newcastle, and he was perplexed 
 between dread of dismissing the two rebels and dread 
 of keeping them. He ended by adopting the less 
 dangerous plan of attempting to divide them. A nego- 
 tiation, managed by the King's personal friend Lord
 
 338 LOPiD CARTERET 
 
 Waklegrave, was opened with Fox ; and in the spring 
 of 1755 Fox consented to enter the Cabinet and serve 
 under Robinson without attacking him. Granville, to 
 whom personally it was a question of no moment, had 
 judged Fox's interest and conduct in politics by his 
 own high standard, 'and had predicted his certain pro- 
 motion. ' I must tell you,' wrote Fox to his wife at the 
 end of 1754, ' a compliment of Lord Granville's ima- 
 gination, and whether I tell you because it is pretty, 
 or because it flatters me, or both, you may judge. I 
 was not present. " They must," says he, " gain Fox. 
 They must not think it keeps him under in the House 
 of Commons. They cannot keep him under. Mix 
 liquors together, and the spirit will be uppermost." ' ^ 
 Granville could not have predicted that Fox would 
 soon be willing to sink to the very bottom. 
 
 Though the alliance between Pitt and Fox was thus 
 broken, the domestic dispute was still far from settled, 
 and at this point it became entangled in the difficulties 
 and dangers from abroad. The long truce gained by 
 the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was nearly over ; the 
 final stage of the war was threateningly near. The 
 first signs of trouble came from North America. Be- 
 tween the Encclish and the French Colonies in America 
 there was no fixed and indisputable line of division. 
 The French ventured to insist tliat t]ie English colonists 
 should confine themselves to the ground East of the 
 AUeghanies, between the mountains and the sea. What 
 was West of the AUeghanies the French, witli magni- 
 ficent effi'ontery, claimed as their own ; and Canada 
 they already had. Confused conditions and conflicting 
 demands resulted in colonial war, and it was soon clear 
 that the war could not be limited to the colonies. In 
 1754 George Washington, making liis first historical 
 
 ' Quoted in Trevelyan's Early Life of C. J. Fox, p. 19 n.
 
 LAST YEARS 339 
 
 appearance, was defeated by the French ; in the spring 
 of 1755 the Enghsh Government was sending out troops 
 to North America. The French did the same ; and war 
 between France and England, though as yet not formally 
 declared, had practically begun. Its opening event 
 was not an omen of its close. On July 9, 1755, the 
 English General Braddock was surprised and defeated 
 by the united French and Indians at Fort Duquesne. 
 When the war ended there was no Fort Duquesne any 
 longer. Its name had been changed to Pittsburg. 
 
 In spite of the troubled condition of public affairs, 
 the King refused to forego his yearly visit to Hanover. 
 In his absence, important questions came before the 
 ministers who formed the Eegency. One of the most 
 pressing of these referred to the relations between 
 England and France. One English fleet had already 
 been sent to America. In July 1755 another was ready, 
 but the ministry, in the awkward state of affairs, with 
 war still undeclared, w^ere much perplexed in drawing 
 up the instructions which were to guide the admiral. 
 When Sir Edward Hawke sailed with his fleet, what 
 was he to do with it ? The Duke of Cumberland was 
 for acting as if the country Avas formally at Avar. Lord 
 Chancellor Hardwicke wished for time and recom- 
 mended caution. Newcastle was delightfully ridicu- 
 lous. He ' gave his opinion that Hawke should take a 
 turn in the Channel to exercise the fleet, without having 
 any instructions whatever.' ^ Imbecility of this descrip- 
 tion was the Prime Minister's contribution to the 
 government of the country. Granville first Avas of 
 opinion that the English fleet should act hostilely, but 
 only agninst French men-of-war. ' Lord Granville,' 
 Fox told Dodington, ' Avas absolutely against meddling 
 
 ^ Lord Waldegrave's Memoirs, p. 47. 
 
 Z 2
 
 340 LORD CABTEUET 
 
 with trade — lie called it vexing your neighbours for a 
 little muck.' ^ Granville's view seems to have been 
 adopted ; but when the news of Braddock's disaster 
 reached England things were recognised as serious 
 beyond anticipation, and Granville's counsel adapted 
 itself to the graver circumstances. ' The Duke of 
 Newcastle in Council,' says Lord Slielburne, ' proposed 
 seizing the French men-of-war. Lord Granville laughed 
 at that, and was the cause of seizing the merchant-men 
 upon the principle of common sense — if you hit, hit 
 hard ; which measure, suggested by Lord Granville, who 
 could not be considered as more than a looker-on in 
 Council, saved us from ruin.' '^ Orders were sent to 
 Hawke accordingly, who seized everything he could 
 lay hands on ; yet France did not declare war. 
 
 While his ministers were thinking of France, Georsfe 
 was thinking of Hanover. For the protection of his 
 inestimable possession he had been, and still was, pay- 
 ing subsidies on all hands, offering money for men 
 wherever a continental ruler would deal with him. It 
 was an annoying circumstance that at the very moment 
 when these expensive arrangements might have been of 
 some practical use the date of the termination of some 
 of them fell due. George saw no remedy but to make 
 new ones. At Hanover he therefore occupied himself 
 with this congenial business. His treaties with Saxony 
 and Bavaria were expiring ; he entered upon new 
 agreements with Hesse and even with Eussia. The 
 Hessian treaty was actually concluded, and the King 
 indiflerently sent it over to England to be ratified as 
 a matter of course. This seemingly innocent perform- 
 ance had a most startling consequence. It drove the 
 
 ' Dodington's DiV//-?/ ; July 21, 1755. 
 
 ^ hoxA'6\ni\h\xi-ms Autobiucji-aphy. Fitzuiaurice's <S/ie//';w/ie, I. 70. ' •
 
 LAST YEARS 341 
 
 excitable political world into a crisis which lasted for 
 nearly two years. The scenes played on the stage of 
 English politics between 1755 and 1757 were more like 
 the sudden changes of farce or pantomime than the sober 
 proceedings of sane politicians and statesmen. They 
 began when the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Legge, 
 urged, it is said, by Pitt, refused to sign the Treasury 
 warrants for the Hessian subsidy. Newcastle immedi- 
 ately w^as filled with terrified astonishment. He hastened 
 to Pitt, and with fawning flattery and maudlin fulsome- 
 ness tried to secure his assistance. Pitt clearly let 
 Newcastle understand that he would accept nothing 
 less than the Secretaryship of State, with a Secretary's 
 full powers, and that he would not support the Eussian 
 subsidy, or a political system founded on subsidies. 
 Newcastle was greatly distressed, but not yet sufficiently 
 intimidated to yield to Pitt's requirements. In his 
 alarm he had already appealed to Granville. As soon 
 as rumours of the opposition to the subsidies had begun 
 to spread, Granville liad said to Newcastle : ' You will 
 now be served yourself as you and your brother served 
 me. Your colleagues w^ill not abuse you themselves, 
 but will sit still and rather encouraije the abuse than 
 defend you.' ^ When Legge's terrible refusal had 
 scared Newcastle out of the little sense he possessed, he 
 ofiered to yield his place that Granville might take it ; 
 but Granville, outwardly laughing, said with bitter con- 
 tempt that he Avas not fit to be First Minister, and 
 refused. Having thus failed to throw his own respon- 
 sibility upon Granville, and having failed to induce Pitt 
 to manage his affairs in the House of Commons, New- 
 castle was compelled to turn once more to Fox. Gran- 
 ville, though he did not know what Fox thought on the 
 
 ' Dodington's i'jflry ; August ] 8, 1755.
 
 342 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 subsidy question, mentioned his name to the King, and 
 undertook the negotiation between Fox and Newcastle. 
 The two met, Fox declaring to the Duke that this was 
 the last time he would ever meet him to see if they 
 could agree. Granville first proposed that Fox should 
 be Chancellor of the Exchequer. Newcastle, terribly 
 jealous always when the control of money was in ques- 
 tion, replied that if that were so Fox and he would not 
 ajzree for a fortnis-ht. At last Granville arranged that 
 Fox should become Secretary of State and leader of the 
 House of Commons. It was much against Newcastle's 
 inclination, but he could not help himself. The Lower 
 House could not go on in a state of anarchy ; and ex- 
 cept Fox there was no one who was willing to accept 
 the management on Newcastle's terms. Eobinson was 
 easily got rid of, much to his own relief, being let down 
 softly with the assistance of an Irish pension ; and a 
 cypher, as witty persons thought, was thus turned into 
 figures. In November 1755 the House met under its 
 new leader. 
 
 A week after the meeting of parliament Pitt and 
 Legge were dismissed. Pitt, though a member of the 
 Government, had distinguished himself in the debate on 
 the address by a very eloquent attack on Newcastle 
 and Fox. In a still remembered sentence, he compared 
 the union between Fox and Newcastle to the junction 
 of the Rhone and Saone at Lyon. Fox after the debate 
 asked Pitt whether the Phone stood for himself or for 
 Granville. Pitt rather enigmatically replied : 'You are 
 Granville ; ' a statement very wide of the mark. Pitt's 
 rhetorical triumpli was great ; but he could make no 
 impression upon the position of the Government. 
 When parliament approved the continental treaties 
 which the King had made, Pitt continued to protest,
 
 LAST YEAES 343 
 
 and, resuming the old Hanoverian abuse which he had 
 dropped while in ministerial favour, he asserted that 
 England was on the way to bankruptcy for the sake 
 of Hanover, a place too insignificant to be marked on 
 the map of Europe. Why, he asked, should England, 
 like Prometheus, be chained with fetters to that barren 
 rock ? Pitt took little by his oratory, and the end of 
 the session silenced his parliamentary eloquence ; but 
 the eloquence of facts was about to pronounce against 
 the Prime Minister even more emphatically than Pitt 
 himself. England declared war against France on May 
 17, 1756. The spring had been an anxious one, passed 
 apprehensively in the vague terrors of a dreaded in- 
 vasion. As usual, England was quite unprepared for 
 war. She was so deficient in men for her own protec- 
 tion that she was forced to send for the Hanoverian and 
 Hessian troops, due by treaty if necessary for self- 
 defence ; while in the Mediterranean, Gibraltar and 
 Minorca were in a very neglected condition. France 
 took quick advantage of English remissness. In April 
 a fleet sailed from Toulon and made for Minorca. The 
 French landed at Port Malion ; and for a month such 
 garrison as there was resisted them as well as it could, 
 till Admiral Byng (son of the Byng who had destroyed 
 the Spanish fleet at Messina) came up with his fleet and 
 attacked the French cruising off the island. That same 
 night. May 20, having done nothing effectual against 
 the enemy, Byng made off for Gibraltar, and left the 
 garrison unhelped. Still for more than a month it held 
 out ; but before the end of June could resist no longer, 
 and the war opened for England with the loss of 
 Minorca. 
 
 The indignation caused by this unhappy news was 
 very great, and Newcastle was soon in the midst of
 
 344 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 iiiiotlier political crisis. Parliament had ended in June 
 175G, while the Minorca question was still nominally 
 undecided. The place of Lord Chief Justice, the object 
 of Murray's ambition, was already vacant, and New- 
 castle's parliamentary difficulties began afresh when 
 Murray, in spite of almost boundless bribes, refused to 
 sit another session in the House of Commons. He 
 would be Lord Chief Justice or nothing ; the Crown, he 
 said, could not give him an equivalent for the post he 
 desired. A still more severe blow from the House of 
 Commons came from Fox. The new Secretary of State 
 had held his office for less than eight months, but he 
 had already begun to find little satisfaction in it. New- 
 castle treated him badly ; the King, pleased at first, had 
 become cold and dissatisfied. ' His majesty,' wrote Fox 
 at the close of the session, ' is, from being excessively 
 pleased, become discontent with me, and cold, not to 
 say very cold, to me.' ^ To stand up in the House of 
 Commons single-handed against Pitt, and defend the 
 so-called policy and apologise for the blunders of a 
 minister who treated him rather as an enemy than a 
 colleague, was not work for which Fox felt inchned ; 
 and in October he informed Newcastle that he intended 
 to resign. Once more Granville was called in to 
 arrange things for Fox, though Granville did not 
 altogether approve of the resignation. On October 15 
 he took to the King a letter from Fox. He had behaved 
 to Newcastle, Fox wrote, as well as he was able, yet he 
 was not supported ; his credit in the House of Commons 
 was accordingly diminished, and he could not carry on 
 the business any longer. Newcastle was negotiating 
 with Pitt ; let Pitt become Secretary of State, and Fox 
 
 1 Fox to Sir C. H. Williams; May 29, 1756. Add. MSS. 9,196 ; fcl. 
 109.
 
 LAST YEABS 345 
 
 would willingly make room for liim. With this letter 
 Granville went to the King. The account of the inter- 
 view must be given by Horace Walpole : — 
 
 ' When Granville arrived with this letter at Ken- 
 sington, he said, " I suppose your majesty knows what 
 I am bringing." " Yes," replied the King, " and I 
 dare say you disapproved and dissuaded it." "Yes, 
 indeed, Sir," said he (as he repeated the dialogue him- 
 self to Fox : " And why did you say so ? " asked Fox. 
 " Oh ! " said he, shuffling it off with a laugh, " you know 
 one must, one must ")} The King, whom Newcastle 
 had just left, seemed much irritated against Fox, talked 
 of his ingratitude and ambition, quoted the friends of 
 Fox that he had preferred . . . and when he had 
 vented his anger against Fox, he abruptly asked Lord 
 Granville : " Would you advise me to take Pitt ? " 
 " Sir," said he, " you must take somebody." " What ! " 
 cried the King, " would you bear Pitt over you ? " 
 " While I am your majesty's President," replied the 
 Earl, " nobody will be over me." The King then abused 
 Lord Temple much ; and at last broke forth the secret 
 of his heart. " I am sure," said he, " Pitt will not do 
 my business.'' " You know," said Lord Granville to 
 Fox, " what my business meant : — Hanover." The 
 supposition did honour to Pitt — but it seems the King 
 did not know him.' '^ 
 
 Granville reported the result of the interview to 
 Newcastle as well as to Fox. ' Lord Granville told 
 me,' wrote Newcastle to his monitor Hardwicke, ' that 
 
 • Thei-e was no dissimulation on Granville's part. He did not approve 
 of Fox's resignation. See Newcastle's letter, p. 340, where Granville says 
 that he will ' still endeavour to make bim [Fox] alter his uiind ; ' and also 
 his conversation with Fox after the resignation was accomplished. 
 
 ^ Horace Walpole's Last Ten Years of the Beiyn of George II., IF. 
 89, 90.
 
 34G LOBD CARTERET 
 
 lie found the King was so angry with Fox that he had 
 rather have anybody than him. The King underhned 
 the paper, in Lord Granville's presence, to show him 
 what part he was offended at. The King told Granville 
 that he had done too much for Fox . . . and then 
 ordered my Lord Granville to tell Fox that he was 
 much offended at this step, and that he w^ould have him 
 appeal to his own conscience whether he had done 
 right in these circumstances. My Lord Granville told 
 me he should carry tlie answer immediately, that he 
 should not repeat the strong things which the King 
 said, that he would do no hurt, that he would still 
 endeavour to make him alter his mind, if it was only 
 for one session. But this makes it absolutely necessary 
 not to lose a moment in applying to Mr. Pitt.' ^ 
 
 Fox could not alter his mind. On October 18 he 
 had his parting audience with tlie King, who was calm 
 and serious, said Fox, full of anger, but determined not 
 to show it. From the King Fox went to Granville, and 
 received a rebuke which he had probably not expected. 
 He was beginning the catalogue of his complaints with 
 an affected declaration that he had no ambition and, 
 after all, did not very much care, when Granville, ' that 
 shrewd jolly man,' as Horace Walpole calls him, inter- 
 rupted these fluent professions of indifference. ' Fox,' 
 said Granville, ' I don't love to have you say things 
 that will not be believed. If jow was of my age 
 [Granville was now sixty-six], very well ; I have put 
 on my night-cap ; there is no more day-light for me — 
 but you should be ambitious. I want to instil a noble 
 ambition into j'ou ; to make you knock the heads of 
 the Kings of Europe together, and jumble something 
 
 ^ Newcastle to Ilardwicke ; Oct. 15, 1756. Harris' Hardivicke, III. 
 73, 74.
 
 LAST YEABS 847 
 
 out of it that may be of service to this country.' ^ But 
 to appeals of this kind Fox was deaf. 
 
 Newcastle was indeed in a distressing case. Murray 
 had left hina, Fox had left him, and now that these two 
 were gone there was not a man in the House of Com- 
 mons who had courage to look Pitt in the face. In his 
 fright and anxiety for self-preservation, Newcastle had 
 already recognised the necessity of securing Pitt. He 
 had been scheming for this even before Fox's resigna- 
 tion ; he became painfully eager for it when it was clear 
 that Fox would certainly go. But when he sounded 
 Pitt he got a blank refusal. As Granville had answered 
 Newcastle's proposals with the bitter retort that he was 
 not competent to be First Minister, so now Pitt severely 
 replied that he could never presume to be tlie associate 
 of so experienced a statesman as Newcastle. Pitt was 
 resolved to join no ministry of which Newcastle was 
 the head. Newcastle began to think that it was a very 
 wicked world. It is amusing to listen to the querulous 
 asseverations which he lavished on Hardwicke, protest- 
 in sf his own innocence so often that at last he came to 
 believe it, and full of an open-eyed astonishment that 
 the political world could venture to exist in a manner 
 Avhich was unsatisfactory to him. He felt himself the 
 cruelly treated centre of a deeply tragic performance. 
 ' A consciousness of my own innocence, and an indiffer- 
 ence as to my own situation may, and I hope in God 
 will, support me against all the wickedness and ingra- 
 titude which I meet with. ... My dearest, dearest 
 lord, you know, you see, how cruelly I am treated, and 
 indeed persecuted by all those who now surround the 
 Kins.' "^ It does not seem to have occurred to him 
 
 1 H. Walpole's Last Ten Years, II. 88. 
 
 2 Newcastle to Hardwicke, Oct. and Nov. 175G. Harris' Hardwicke, 
 III. 80-82.
 
 348 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 that, as he and his management were an iinreheved 
 failure, his straightforward course was to resign. 
 Straightforward things never did occur to him. Eather 
 than resign, he was wilhng, since all liis other attempts 
 had failed, to humiliate himself once more before the 
 dreaded Granville. When Pitt refused assistance, 
 Newcastle hastened to Granville, and implored him to 
 exchange places with him and become Prime Minister. 
 Granville, old, and in poor health, knew far better than 
 to quit his dignified position and spoil the last few 
 yeai^s of his hfe for the personal convenience of the 
 Duke of Newcastle. ' I tliought,' he said in his homely 
 style, ' I had cured you of such offers last year. I will 
 be hanged a little before I take your place, rather than 
 a little after.' ^ If Granville had cared, which he never 
 did, for personal revenge, he might have had his feelings 
 of triumph. The false and foolish pohtician, who had 
 intrigued against him and driven him from power, had 
 now a second time gone down on his knees to him, 
 begging him to take the highest post, and had been 
 twice refused. Newcastle could do no more. Deserted 
 by Fox, scorned by Pitt, contemptuously let alone by 
 Granville, he could cling to power no longer. On 
 November 11 he unwillincflv resigned. 
 
 All necessary arrangements had already been made. 
 The King had first desired that Pitt and Fox should 
 sink past differences and join in one administration. 
 But Pitt refused to act with Fox. The Duke of Devon- 
 shire, to whom the King then appealed, attempted a 
 reconciliation, but found Pitt inflexible. The King' 
 complained bitterly of what he called the insolent way 
 in which Pitt treated him, and lamented, as he well 
 might, the miserable condition of public affairs. But 
 
 ' Last Ten Years, II. 87, 88.
 
 LAST YEABS 349 
 
 the distressing confusion only made Pitt's assistance 
 more than ever desirable, and one last effort was made 
 to obtain it. It was resolved to draw up in writing a 
 scheme of administration and policy, and to ask Pitt to 
 accept that scheme and join the Government of the 
 Duke of Devonshire ; if, after all, he refused, a Govern- 
 ment must then be formed without him. On November 2, 
 Granville, who had himself composed the document, 
 presented it to the King. It was a short paper, but 
 ' replete with good sense ; ' ^ and the offers which it 
 made were such that Pitt could not with any show of 
 reason refuse them. He agreed, therefore, to become 
 Secretary of State in the Government of which the Duke 
 of Devonshire was the nominal head. 
 
 Innocent onlookers might have supposed that now, 
 at the end of 1756, the long political crisis was at 
 last over. Cynics with a turn for prophecy might have 
 safely asserted that the real crisis was only just begin- 
 ning. When Parliament met in December, the House 
 of Lords, against the opinion of Pitt's brother-in-law. 
 Temple, thanked the King for the presence of his 
 Electoral troops from Hanover. Pitt in the height of 
 the invasion panic had opposed the demand for these 
 troops, and the address of the House of Commons 
 offered no congratulations on the subject. The King, 
 encouraged by the action of the Lords, insisted that 
 the Commons should take back their address and insert 
 a corresponding paragraph. Pitt, who did not go 
 through the formahties of accepting office till December 
 4, two days after the meeting of parliament, at once 
 let it be understood that he would not accept the seals 
 if the King attempted anything of the kind. At this 
 point Granville struck into tlic dispute, and persuaded 
 
 ' Duke of Bedford to his Duchess; Nov. 2, 175G. Lord J. Russell's 
 Bedford Correspondence, II. 208.
 
 350 LOED CARTERET 
 
 the King to give way. Even before tliis the King had 
 shown his dissatisfaction. The royal speech was Pitt's 
 work, and George dishked it. In private conversation 
 he did not care to conceal his sentiments. An adven- 
 turous printer had published a spurious speech, and was 
 to be punished for so great a breach of privilege. The 
 King, when he heard of it, hoped that the punishment 
 w^ould be of the very slightest description ; for he had 
 read both speeches, and said that, as far as he under- 
 stood either of them, he liked the forged one better 
 than his own. In addition to this discontent on pub- 
 lic grounds, the King soon conceived a personal irrita- 
 tion against Pitt and Temple. They did not manage 
 their official intercourse with him in the prompt busi- 
 ness manner which he liked, and wearied liim with 
 rhetoric and long speeches. Pitt, indeed, had few 
 opportunities of personally offending, for gout kept him 
 much away from Court and Council. When he did 
 appear in the Cabinet, his haughty mind, harassed by a 
 sick body, produced such wild and impracticable 
 schemes that Granville, who thoroughly recognised 
 Pitt's powers, said once after a Council-meeting : ' Pitt 
 used to call me madman, but I never was half so mad 
 as he is.' Little, liowever, as he saw of the Secretary, 
 George in the early spring of 1757 had had quite enough 
 of him, while he found Temple positively unbearable. 
 A disagreeable fellow, the King called Temple ; pert and 
 insolent when he attempted to argue, and exceedingly 
 troublesome when he meant to be civil. In his exag-ofer- 
 ating way, the King was soon declaring tliat he Avas 
 in the hands of scoundrels, and would endure their 
 insolence no longer. These royal plirases were more 
 than mere irritated rhetoric. Early in April 1757 
 tlie Kino; ordered Pitt to resij^n.
 
 LAST YEARS 351 
 
 For eleven weeks England was without a settled 
 Government. Before actually dismissing Pitt, the King 
 in his angry distress had sounded Newcastle. The 
 Duke was eager enough to return to power, but he 
 was terribly afraid of the political difficulties of the 
 time, and he dreaded the resentment of Pitt. He was 
 so irresolute and changeable that the King's patience 
 was completely exhausted, and he turned to Fox. But 
 the plan Avhich Fox drew up came to nothing, and 
 when Pitt was dismissed there was no one ready to 
 succeed him. Whilst freedoms and sfold boxes innumer- 
 able were being lavished on the fallen Secretary, the 
 sovereign was in a deplorable condition, and statesmen 
 were busily devising fantastic combinations which fell 
 to pieces before they could be completed. Newcastle 
 attempted to gain over Pitt, and Pitt contemptuously 
 refused to have anything to do with him. The Duke 
 solemnly declared that he would never again dream 
 of Pitt as a colleague ; and a few days afterwards was 
 importuning him more than ever. Pitt, swallowing his 
 contempt, this time agreed. The King then reappeared 
 on the scene, and, having given Newcastle permission 
 to treat with Pitt, refused the plan which the two 
 had drawn up. Newcastle testily retorted that now he 
 would not act at all without Pitt ; the King sulked, and 
 declared that he was very badly used. So the confused 
 scene changed to worse confusion every da3^ At last a 
 little light seemed to break when Waldegrave, the King's 
 personal friend, undertook, though reluctantly, the for- 
 mation of a Government. He made some progress, 
 although Fox, who was to be a leading member, did 
 not seem very confident of success. But Granville en- 
 couraged them : — 
 
 ' However we were somewhat animated by Lord
 
 352 LORD GABTEBET 
 
 Granville, who assured us, in his lively manner, that 
 we could not fail of success. That the whole force of 
 Government was now firmly united ; Army, Navy, Trea- 
 sury, Church, and all their subordinate branches. That 
 though volunteers did not come in so fast as had been 
 expected, we had the whole summer before us to raise 
 recruits: and though of late years ministers did not 
 think themselves safe without a majority in the House 
 of Commons of 150 or 200, he remembered the time 
 when twenty or thirty were thought more than suffi- 
 cient.'^ 
 
 This arrangement under Fox and Waldesrave mijrht 
 possibly have worked ; Newcastle evidently feared that 
 it would. A Government concerning which his opinion 
 had not been asked, and from which he w^as himself 
 excluded, was on the point of completion. If intrigue 
 could do anything, Newcastle was resolved that such a 
 settlement should ^o no further. Eememberincr his 
 successful tactics of more than ten years ago, he 
 secretly worked upon Lord Holderness, the cypher 
 Secretary of State, and persuaded him to resign. The 
 KinfT too remembered what had followed Harrino-ton's 
 retirement ; and though he accepted Holderness's resig- 
 nation with angry dignity, he declined to enter upon a 
 Iiopeless contest. Other resignations would be sure to 
 follow, he dispiritedly complained ; almost everybody 
 was abandoning him. Richard, mon Boi ! He 
 refused to put Waldegrave and Fox, who were trying 
 to serve him, to any further useless trouble, and agreed 
 to accept any arrangement which Newcastle and his 
 ' footmen ' could make with Pitt. Each side having 
 been convinced of its need of the other, an accommoda- 
 tion w^as not difficult. To Newcastle, with the title of 
 
 ' Lord Waldegrave s Memoirs, p. 122.
 
 LAST YEABS 353 
 
 Prime Minister, Pitt very willingly left the whole 
 department of patronage and corruption ; while Pitt 
 himself, at the end of June, received back the seals as 
 Secretary of State, and with them the practical diiection 
 of the policy of the Government. 
 
 The story of the Seven Years' War belongs, as far 
 ' as English political history is concerned, to the life of 
 Pitt. Party politics seemed to have fallen dead. Parlia- 
 ment met to vote subsidies to Frederick and to sanction 
 the requirements of Pitt ; otherwise it had nothing to 
 find fault with, and nothing to do. Everything was 
 managed by seven or eight of the leading members of 
 the administration, who formed a small governing body 
 wliich Gi'anville called the Conciliabulum. In this little 
 council, Pitt and Hardwicke, Granville and Newcastle, 
 met on friendly terms ; always meaning to agree, wrote 
 their Secretary at War, who was not one of the privileged 
 number, or, if they differed, differing amicably. ' I never,' 
 writes War Secretary Lord Barrington, ' remember the 
 country so much united in its politics, or in such good 
 humour with its ministers, . . . The Duke of Newcastle, 
 Lord President, Lord Hardwicke, Lord Mansfield, the 
 two Secretaries of State, and Lord Anson form what Lord 
 Granville calls the Conciliabulum. They meet continu- 
 ally, and their opinion is the advice given to the King. 
 They always mean to agree, and if they differ, they 
 differ amicably. I am convinced at present there is 
 not a man amono; them who wishes ill to the others, 
 and who is not persuaded that any rupture, or even 
 ill-will, would be a misfortune to liimself.'^ Lord 
 Shelburne's testimony on this point is indisputable. 
 ' I have heard Lord Chatham say,' Shelburne writes, 
 
 ' J larriiigton to Sir Audrcw Mitchell ; Dec. 11, 17o7. Add. MlSS. 6,8ol ; 
 lol. 11-14. 
 
 A A
 
 354 LOUD CABTEllET 
 
 ' they were the most agreeable conversations he ever 
 experienced ' : — 
 
 ' The war produced a strong Council and a strong 
 Government. The Cabinet Council was composed of the 
 Duke of Newcastle, Mr. Pitt, Secretary of State, Lord 
 Keeper Henley, Lord Hardwicke, Lord Mansfield, Lord 
 Granville, Lord Holdernesse, Lord Anson, and Lord 
 Ligonier. There were no party politics, and conse- 
 quently no difference of opinion. I have heard Lord 
 Chatham say they were the most agreeable conversations 
 lie ever experienced. The Duke of Newcastle, a very 
 good-humoured man, was abundantly content with the 
 whole patronage being left to him. . . . Lord Hardwicke 
 . . . was kept in order by Lord Granville's wit, who 
 took advantao;e of the meetins^ of tlie balance of all 
 parties to pay off old scores, and to return all that 
 he owed to the Pelliams and the Yorkes. He had a 
 rooted aversion to Lord Hardwicke and to all his 
 family, I don't precisely know for what reason, but he 
 got the secret of cowing Lord Hardwicke, whose pre- 
 tensions to classical learninix o;ave Lord Granville, who 
 really was a very fine classical scholar, a great oppor- 
 tunity. To this was added his knowledge of civil law, 
 in which Lord Hardwicke was deficient, and, above all, 
 his wit ; but whatever way he got the key, he used it 
 on all occasions unmercifully. In one of the short-lived 
 administrations at the commencement of the war. Lord 
 Granville, who had generally dined, turned round to say, 
 ' I am thinking that all over Europe they are waiting 
 our determination and canvassinsf our characters. The 
 Duke of Newcastle, they'll say, is a man of great fortune, 
 who has spent a great deal of it in support of the pre- 
 sent family. Fox, they'll say, is an impudent fellow who 
 has fought his way here through the House of Com-
 
 LAST YEABS 355 
 
 moiis ; as for me, they know me tliroiiglioiit Europe, 
 they know my talents and my character ; but I am 
 thinking they will all be asking, Qui est ce diable de 
 Chancelier ? How came he here ? ' ^ 
 
 The nation was as singularly harmonious as the 
 Cabinet, proud of the victories which were being won 
 in three continents, and of the great minister who in- 
 spired them. So the last three years of George II. 's 
 reign passed away in political quiet and satisfaction. 
 Bnt with the death of the old King, whose sad ministerial 
 troubles had ended so happily after all, there came a 
 very great change. An uneducated, inexperienced, nar- 
 row-minded young Prince succeeded to the throne, and 
 the policy of his mother and her favourite was not the 
 policy of Pitt. Their first anxious determination was to 
 get rid of the minister ; their second, to end the war. 
 In order that a German Princess might see carried out 
 in England the political principles which were the pride 
 of the most absurdly insignificant German Courts, Pitt 
 himself was to be dismissed, and his great work was to 
 be hacked and botched by an almost unknown Scotch 
 peer of the Court groom species, distinguished for 
 nothing but his fine legs and his turn for the amateur 
 stage. Bute, indeed, looked terribly wise, and had a 
 great deal of pompous mysteiy about him ; he liked to 
 be in solemn solitariness, and when he was minister 
 always went down the back stairs at Court. He had as 
 much classical learning as he could pick out of a French 
 translation, and he kncAV what history could be learned 
 from tragedies. But there he stopped. On the side of 
 public affairs, his sole qualification for attempting to 
 direct political events that concerned three continents 
 
 ' Fitzmaurice's Shelburne, I. 85-87. 
 
 A A 2
 
 35G LORD CAliTEBET 
 
 was the fact that he had Kved for many years in 
 the Hebrides. 
 
 Bute's proceedings were not long delayed. In March 
 1761, having removed from the Government men whose 
 opinions were likely to be in the way, and having filled 
 their places with others who could be trusted to do 
 precisely what the new King and Court desired them to 
 do, Bute made himself Secretary of State. Pitt still 
 remained, holding his post with great loyalty, though 
 the designs of the Court against him were only too 
 clear. He was even perfectly willing to make peace 
 with France if he could obtain duly satisfactory terms. 
 France in her very low condition desired nothing better 
 than to be out of the war altogether, and especially to 
 settle her English quarrel, which lay quite apart from 
 the main continental question. In the same month in 
 Avliich Bute introduced himself into the Government, 
 the Due de Choiseul attempted negotiations with Pitt. 
 On April 5 Granville wrote to Pitt : — 
 
 ' Lord Granville presents his compliments to Mr. 
 Pitt, and thanks him for the communication of his 
 answer to the Due de Choiseul, together with the draught 
 of the memorial.' 
 
 Then Granville continues in the first person : — 
 
 'Neither of these draughts can, in my judgment, be 
 mended ; and when this great affair comes out into the 
 world, every person of candour will agree to impute 
 tlie happy setting out of this great affair, as well as the 
 success of it, which God grant, to the right author ; whose 
 spirit, and perseverance, and judgment, under some dis- 
 couragements, to my own knowledge have produced 
 this salutary work. Ever yours, 
 
 ' Granville.' ^ 
 
 ' Chatham Correspondence, II. 113,114.
 
 LAST YEABS 357 
 
 Early in June an English agent arrived at Paris, 
 and a French one came to London, to conduct the nego- 
 tiations. Pitt's terms were very high. Fresh victories 
 were still improving his position, and he was not in- 
 clined to yield a single advantage which he had gained. 
 He had taken Belleisle and made new conquests in the 
 East and West Indies while the peace negotiations were 
 in progress ; and on any concession to France in the 
 Canada and Newfoundland region he was inexorable. 
 ' Not the breadth of a blanket,' he privately said, when De 
 Choiseul urged some small footing; for the French fisher- 
 men in Newfoundland waters. Yet still there seemed 
 some probability that France would accept the English 
 conditions. The offers of France were undoubtedly 
 lar2:e. The Duke of Bedford, who was soon to take a 
 not very creditable part in the final arrangements, says 
 that in July Granville considered the agreement which 
 the French seemed Avilling to make more advantageous 
 to England than any ever concluded with France since 
 the time of Henry V.^ But Pitt was already seriously 
 suspicions that there was something hidden behind 
 Choiseul's proposals. On July 15, France dragged Spain 
 into the negotiations, suggesting that King Carlos might 
 mediate between France and England. Pitt indignantly 
 refused to allow Spain any voice in the question. The 
 meetings of the Conciliahulum became very animated. 
 Horace Walpole reports one in August, wdien Pitt pro- 
 duced, at the request of the Council, a draught of the 
 final concessions which could be offered to France. The 
 ministers thouolit the document drawn rather too much 
 in the style of an ultimatum ; Granville thought its fine 
 ])hrases too rhetorical for a paper on business of state. 
 ' Lord Granville took the draught, and applauded it 
 
 ^ Lord John Russell's Bedford CmTespondcncc, III. 20.
 
 358 LORD CABTERET 
 
 exceedingly , said it deserved to be inserted in the Acta 
 Begia ; but for liis part he did not love fine letters on 
 business.' With humorous and good-natured exaggera- 
 tion Granville added that he thought in negotiations 
 bad Latin was better than good. This not very severe 
 criticism produced an excited outburst from Pitt. Not 
 an iota of his letter should be altered, he said. Bussj^, 
 the French negotiator, had had some communications 
 with Granville. ' I understand from Bussy ' — began 
 Granville, when Pitt interrupted : 'From Bussy? nor you, 
 nor any of you shall treat with Bussy : nobody shall but 
 myself.' ^ But at the next meeting Pitt was more moder- 
 ate, and admitted some small modifications. The nego- 
 tiations, however, such as they were, came soon to an 
 abrupt close. On August 1-3, 1761, there was signed 
 between France and Spain a Family Compact, which 
 plainly meant that Spain would join France in the 
 war against England. Pitt received early and secret 
 information. Clearly understanding the meaning of 
 the news, and seeing that Spain was only awaiting a 
 favourable opportunity for declaring war, Pitt resolved 
 to forestall her in that. On September 18 he informed 
 the Council of this private Bourbon alliance, and j)ro- 
 posed immediate war with Spain. Granville desired time 
 to consider so important a step. A second meeting was 
 held, from which Granville was absent, and at which no 
 resolution was taken. On October 2 the Council held 
 a third and very important meeting. Pitt spoke with 
 strong feeling, and said that if his advice were rejected 
 he would not sit in tliat Council again. Lord after Lord 
 delivered his opinion (except Pitt himself there was not 
 a Commoner in the Cabinet), Granville, Devonshire, 
 Hardwicke, Newcastle, Anson, Ligonier, Mansfield, Bute, 
 
 > H. Walpole's Memoirs of George III., I. 68, 69.
 
 LAST YEARS 859 
 
 and not one of them supported Pitt's proposal. Except 
 for his brother-in-law Temple, Pitt stood absolutely 
 alone. He virtually resigned. It fell to Granville, as 
 President of the Council, to speak in the name of the 
 Cabinet on this occasion. The very imperfect accounts 
 that remain give curiously discrepant reports of the 
 language which Granville is said to have employed. 
 But even without other direct evidence which fortunately 
 exists on this matter, no one well acquainted with 
 Granville's career and character could believe that 
 he spoke the words which are put into his mouth by 
 the enemies of Pitt. If this account^ were to be be- 
 lieved, Granville addressed Pitt in a very contemptuous 
 manner : — 
 
 'I find,' says this report, 'that the gentleman is 
 determined to leave us, nor can I say that I am sorry 
 for it, for otherwise he would have compelled us to 
 leave him ; but if he be resolved to assume the risjht 
 of advising his majesty, and directing the operations 
 of the war, for what purpose are we called to Council ? 
 When he talks of being responsible to the people, he 
 talks the language of the House of Commons, and for- 
 gets that at this board he is only responsible to the King. 
 However, although he may possibly have convinced 
 himself of his infallibility, it remains that we also should 
 be equally convinced, before we resign our understand- 
 ings to his direction, or join with him in the measure 
 which he proposes.' 
 
 ' I am sorry old Carteret should have ended so ! ' 
 laments Carlyle. It is very certain that old Carteret 
 
 ^ It originally appeared in the Annual Register for 17G1, pp. 43, 44, and 
 was adopted by the Rev. Francis Thackeray in his distressing Life of Pitt. 
 Unfortunately, Carlyle followed Thackeray in this instance (F}•ederich,T^ook 
 XX. Chap. X.), and so has given currency to what might otherwise have 
 been contemptuously rejected.
 
 3G0 LOBD CARTEBET 
 
 did not at all end so. Instead of scornfully sneering at 
 Pitt's infallibility and openly exulting over his departure 
 from the ministry, Granville expressed in the most em- 
 phatic way his admiration for Pitt and his regret for his 
 resignation. The various historical chroniclers admit 
 that there is this other version ; but apart from this 
 tlie whole point is cleared up in the simplest and most 
 satisfactory of ways. Granville himself repeatedly 
 denied that he had ever used the language which this 
 forged speech ascribed to him ; and a contradiction and 
 explanation appeared in print in 1763, a few months 
 after Granville's death. Almon, the bookseller, a great 
 admirer of Pitt, wrote in 1763 a 'Review of Lord 
 Bute's Administration,' and its first pages, printed before 
 Bute actually resigned, tell the story of this spurious 
 speecli : — 
 
 ' After Ml". Pitt and Lord Temple had taken their 
 leaves of the third and last Council summoned to deliber- 
 ate on the conduct of Spain, the late Earl Granville, then 
 Lord President, rose up to speak. Upon this occa- 
 sion those ministerial tools [supporters of Bute] already 
 refuted, framed a speech out of tlieir own heads, and 
 printed it as the genuine one of Lord Granville's. The 
 world read this invented speech no doubt with astonish- 
 ment; but his lordship, in order to do justice to himself, 
 several times declared that there was not even one word 
 of truth in that spurious production ; that so far from 
 its containing any of his sentiments, it was just the con- 
 trary ; for at that time he expressed (in his own nervous 
 and manly eloquence) his very high opinion of Mr. Pitt's 
 wisdom, penetration, abilities, honour, and integrity, 
 and in a very particidar and most emphatical manner 
 spoke of the innumerable and almost insurmountable 
 difficulties which Mr. Pitt and Lord Temple had had
 
 LAST YEAES 3G1 
 
 to struggle with.'^ These words precisely correspond, 
 with those used by Granville in his letter to Pitt already 
 quoted. Internal evidence would of itself have been 
 sufficient. Granville did not at the very end of his life 
 lose the courtesy and high spirit which had distinguished 
 him from the beainnincf. 
 
 Pitt resigned office on October 5. Within three 
 months liis policy was clearly justified by the English 
 declaration of war against Spain. Granville, in a 
 divided Cabinet, was one of the advocates for war. The 
 English successes in 1762 were very brilliant, but of no 
 personal service to Bute, for they were rightly ascribed 
 to the preparations and policy of Pitt. They were 
 rather an embarrassment to the unpopular Secretary of 
 State ; for they did not increase the chances of a speedy 
 peace, and Bute was bent on ending the struggle. He 
 managed to make a considerable advance towards his 
 object when he appointed himself Premier in May. 
 Newcastle, persistently slighted by Bute and the young 
 King, resigned in disgust, and Bute appropriated the 
 liigliest place. He used his greater power to press the 
 policy wliicli he had been attempting to carry out even 
 while Pitt was still in tlie Cabinet. From the party of 
 the Whigs he had gained over, among others, the Duke of 
 Bedford. To him Bute entrusted the negotiations with 
 France, and in November preliminaries were signed. 
 Bedford's own eagerness for peace was so great that 
 he was willing- to ag:ree to worse terms than even Bute 
 liimself. Bedford resetted the Eng-lisli victories of 
 1761 ; lie desired to abandon Frederick entirely; he 
 would have let Spain recover Havana for nothing. Tlie 
 chief matter for wonder is that the peace, in the hands of 
 a negotiator of tliis stamp, was so very advantageous as 
 
 ^ iVhnon's Review of Lord Bute's Administration, pp. 7,8.
 
 3G2 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 it really was. Its treatment of Frederick was by no 
 means cliivalroiis ; its absurd disregard of valuable con- 
 quests which England was making while the negotiations 
 were still in progress was inexcusably careless ; but 
 otherwise it was a peace extremely favourable to Eng- 
 land, tliouo;h some concessions were admitted which 
 Pitt would have refused, Pitt would have done his 
 best to utterly ruin France as a commercial and naval 
 power. The actual settlement made by Bute was pro- 
 bably wisei' in policy ; though Bute's action rested on 
 vindictive hatred of the great statesman and on a 
 shameful want of patriotic feeling. The peace in itself 
 was nationally advantageous, but personally disgraceful 
 to the minister who neg;otiated it. 
 
 But Bute's eagerness for peace was not shared by the 
 country, which was proud of what it had done, and 
 ashamed of deserting Frederick. Pitt's popularity, lost 
 for a moment when, on his resignation, his wife became 
 Baroness Chatham and he himself accepted a pension, 
 had almost instantly returned, while Bute was the most 
 unpopular man in the kingdom. If then the Court 
 party hoped to consummate its policy by obtaining 
 parliamentary approval of the peace, parliament must 
 in some way be prevented from reflecting what was 
 evidently the feeling of the nation. To assist him in 
 this degrading jobbery, Bute found a willing tool in 
 Fox, whose passion for money-making had already sunk 
 him very low in his oflice of Paymaster. Bribed by a 
 seat in the Cabinet, and the promise of a peerage. Fox 
 undertook to secure a nmjority for the peace. When 
 parliament met in November 1762 it was evident that 
 he had kept his word. In the Lords, Bute was in no 
 danfjer : in the Commons, Fox's bribes had carried all 
 before them. The only opposition worth speaking of
 
 LAST YEABS 3G3 
 
 came from Pitt, who, tlioiigli very ill and permitted to 
 sit during the greater part of his speech, opposed the 
 peace in a harangue of three hours and a half. A 
 majority of five to one ajoproved the negotiations, and 
 the Court triumphed. 
 
 Meanwhile Granville was dying. For the last three 
 or four years he had been slowly but visibly declining. 
 Yet his spirits remained nnbroken, and his interest in 
 men and affairs undiminished. ' Lord Granville,' wrote 
 his friend. Lord Hyde, to Sir Andrew Mitchell at Berlin, 
 ' is much as he was as to spirits and dignity, at least 
 to us, who see him daily and partially. Perhaps you 
 would perceive that time had made its impression and 
 lessened both. We often talk you over and wish for 
 the stories we are to have when you return.' ^ Tliis 
 was eighteen months before Granville's death ; he and 
 Hyde never had Mitchell's stories of the war and Fred- 
 erick. In May 1762 Horace Walpole told Mann that 
 Granville was much broken. Li December Chesterfield 
 at Bath heard that Granville was dying. ' When he 
 dies,' wrote Chesterfield, ' the ablest head in England 
 dies too, take it for all in all.' Granville was by this 
 time so far gone that his best friends could not desire 
 the lengthening of his hfe. ' He was almost bent double, 
 worn to a skeleton, quite lost the use of his legs, and 
 spent the best part of the day in dozing.''^ But he 
 gave a most characteristic illustration of the old Car- 
 teret high spirit, culture, and patriotism when he was 
 actually on his death-bed. Eobert Wood, author of an 
 Essay on The Original Genius of Homer, which inter- 
 ested Goethe in his younger days, was Under Secretary 
 of State in the closing period of the Seven Years' War, 
 
 1 Bissefs Memoirs of Sir A. Mitchell, I. 15G. June 27, 1701. 
 » Add. MSS. 30,009; fol, 10.
 
 804 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 and frequently had interviews on business with Granville. 
 The occasions were few, says Wood, on which Granville, 
 after giving his commands on state affairs, did not 
 turn the conversation to Greece and Homer. A few 
 daj^s before Granville died. Wood was ordered to wait 
 upon him with the preliminary articles of the Peace 
 of Paris. ' I found him,' writes Wood in the Intro- 
 duction to his Essay, ' so languid that I proposed post- 
 poning my business for another time ; but he insisted 
 that I should stay, saying it could not prolong his life 
 to neglect his duty ; and repeating the following passage 
 out of Sarpedon's speech, he dwelled with particular 
 emphasis on the third line, which recalled to his mind 
 the distinguished part he had taken in public affairs : — 
 
 'n TTSTTOV, sl /jLSV Jap TToXs/JiOV TTSpl TOvBs (pVyOVTSS 
 
 alsX hrj fisWoi/xsv dyijpco r dOavdrco rs 
 E(7(r£a6\ ovrs ksv avTos ivl TrpcoroLcrt fiwy^OLfirjv 
 ovrs Ks (Ts cTTsWotfic fid'^rjv is KvSidvsipav 
 vvv 8' (sfMTnjs yap Ktjpss scfisardaiv Oavdroto 
 
 fivpiai, as ovK sart cjjvyslv ^porov ou8' vTvaXv^at) 
 
 " 1 
 
 lOfXcV. 
 
 ' His lordship repeated the last word several times 
 with a calm and determined resignation ; and after a 
 serious pause of some minutes, he desired to hear the 
 treaty read, to which he listened with great attention, 
 and recovered spirits enough to declare the approbation 
 of a dying statesman (I use his own words) " on the 
 most glorious war and most honourable peace this 
 nation ever saw." ' ^ 
 
 This was tlie last scene. Granville, aged seventy- 
 
 1 Iliad XII. 322-328. 
 
 - Wood's Easay, p. 5 n. (Ed. 1824). Matthew Arnold, On Translating 
 .flojHfr, p. 18, quotes this last episode in Granville's life as ' exhibiting the 
 English aristocracy at its very height of culture, lofty spirit, and greatness.'
 
 LAST YEARS 3Go 
 
 three, died on January 2, 1763. ' He died at Bath, 
 previous to which he was delirious, and imagined him- 
 self in the other world, where, meeting an old Clerk of 
 the House of Commons, he gave him an account of all 
 that had happened in the interval between their deatlis 
 with infinite wit, accuracy, and humour, insomucli that 
 it was a pity it was not taken down.' ^ He was buried 
 among his ancestors in Westminster Abbey. One may 
 regret the loss of the last flashes of Grranville's wit and 
 humour ; but his quotation of Sarpedon's words to 
 Glaucus formed a more fitting close to his life than the 
 wittiest of parliamentary gossip. ' For if, escaping the 
 present combat, we might be for ever undecaying and 
 immortal, neither would I myself fight among the fore- 
 most nor would I urge you on to the glorious battle ; 
 but now — for a thousand fates of deatli stand close to 
 us always, and no mortal can escape or evade them — 
 let us go.' 
 
 ' Lord Shelburne's Antohiotiraphy. Granville did not die at Bath, but 
 at his own house in Arlington Street.
 
 36G LORD CABTEEET 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 PEIVATE LIFE ; PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS. 
 
 In the midst of the busy excitement of the life of a 
 pohtical leader, one of Carteret's frequent phrases was : 
 ' I love my fireside.' When he became practically 
 Prime Minister, Carteret had refused to attend the great 
 political gathering at the Fountain on the plea that 
 he never dined at a tavern. His private life was 
 an exceedingly happy one ; and, in spite of the coarse 
 license which much of the pohtical criticism of his day 
 allowed itself, the most unscrupulous enemy found it 
 impossible to employ against Carteret the satirical 
 abuse or malicious libelling to which the notorious 
 lives of too many eighteenth-century politicians so 
 easily exposed tliem. Swift, who had no foible of 
 unduly flattering the great, in 1724 dedicated a poem 
 to Carteret as ' Manly Virtue ' personified. Carteret 
 had married almost immediately after leaving the 
 University ; and Swift liumorously apologises for the 
 fact that ' during the prime of youth, spirits, and vigour, 
 he has in a most exemplary manner led a regular 
 domestic life ; discovers a great esteem and friendship 
 and love for his lady, as well as true affection for his 
 children.' His house was exceedingly hospitable ; his 
 family was numerous, and their alliances splendid and 
 prosperous. Speaking once in one of the innumerable 
 debates on the Hanoverian troops, Carteret said : —
 
 PBIVATE LIFE—FEBSONAL CHABACTEBISTICS 367 
 
 ' I hope it cannot be suspected of me that I prefer 
 any interest to that of my native country, in wliich I 
 hazard too much not to wish its prosperity ; for I am 
 alhed, my lords, to most of the principal houses in the 
 kingdom, and can number a very great part of this 
 august assembly among my relations.' 
 
 Swift, writino- on the occasion of the niarriao;e of 
 one of Carteret's daughters, said that he thought Carte- 
 ret the happiest man in all circumstances of life that 
 he had ever known ; and Pelham held that if Carteret 
 could make as good foreign alliances for his country as 
 he had made domestic settlements for his family, he 
 would be the ablest minister that England had ever 
 had. 
 
 The head of the Carteret family till Carteret himself 
 was fifty-four years old Avas his mother, Grace, Vis- 
 countess Carteret and Countess Granville. She was the 
 youngest daughter of Sir John Granville, Earl of Bath. 
 Her husband George, Baron Carteret, died in 1695, and 
 she survived him for half a century, but did not marry 
 again. She lived to be ninety, dying on the same day 
 (October 18, 1744) as old Sarah of Marlborough. She 
 seems to have had much force and decisiveness of 
 character, and a frank, even sharp plain-spokenness 
 which keenly sensitive persons found rather trying. It 
 was perhaps from her that Carteret inherited the homely 
 directness and idiomatic force which marked his pri- 
 vate conversation and Avere not excluded from his 
 stately parliamentary eloquence. Swift would not like 
 Countess Granville the less for the plainness of her 
 speech; and she shared the intimacy with the Dean, 
 which it seemed a law of nature that every member of 
 Carteret's household should enjoy. From Hawnes, 
 Carteret's seat in Bedfordshire, she wrote to Swift
 
 808 LOUD CAltTEBET 
 
 ill the early years of her son's opposition to Wal- 
 pole : — 
 
 'Deae Sir, — I liave received the honour of your 
 commands, and sliall obey them ; for T am very proud 
 of your remembrance. I do not know we ever quar- 
 relled ; but if we did, I am as good a Christian as you 
 are, — in perfect charity with you. My son, my daugh- 
 ter, and all our olive-branches salute you most tenderly, 
 .... Will you never come into England, and make 
 Hawnes your road ? You will find nothing here to 
 offend you, fori am a hermit and live in my chimney- 
 corner, and have no ambition but that you will believe 
 ' I am the charmino; Dean's 
 
 ' Most obedient, humble servant, 
 
 ' Geanville.' ^ 
 
 Thous2:h the old Countess here calls herself a hermit 
 of the chimney-corner, she and her somewhat imperious 
 ways were well known in London society ten years 
 after the date of this letter. She lived to see her son 
 practically Prime Minister of England ; and her proud 
 satisfaction induced good-humoured observers to speak 
 of her by the nickname of the Queen-Mother. By less 
 lenient persons, who dwelt more on the sharpness of her 
 tongue and manners, she Avas familiarly alluded to as 
 the ' Dragon ' ; and pleasant if exaggerated stories of 
 the vehement impetuosity of old Countess Granville's 
 eloquence amused gossipers in a sufficiently innocent 
 manner. One harmlessly heightened specimen will be 
 enough. In 1743, when the Countess was eighty-nine 
 years old, Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu wrote to the Duchess 
 of Portland : — 
 
 ' All the gifts of tongues bestowed on mankind are 
 
 ' Swift, Works, XVIII. 184. Nov. 27, 17;5;l
 
 PBIVATE LIFE—PEBSONAL CHABACTEBISTICS 3G9 
 
 retired to Mr. Finch's, in Savile Eow ; the general voice 
 Hves there in tlie person of the Countess of Granville. 
 I went there with Mrs. Meadows on Sunday. ... I 
 wish your Grace had been present ; we had many good 
 scenes, but the scene of tenderness and sorrow was the 
 best of all ; she sighed, and tossed, and thumped, and 
 talked, and blamed, and praised, and hoped, and used 
 the greatest variety of expression, and suffered the 
 greatest change of temper that ever poor soul did ; most 
 pathetically did she break out, giving an account of Lady 
 Carteret's death. " Poor dear Lady Carteret got her 
 death going abroad with a cold ; for if poor dear Lady 
 Carteret had a fault — not that I know that poor dear 
 Lady Carteret had a fault — nay, I believe that poor dear 
 Lady Carteret had not a fault — but, if she had a fault 
 it was that she loved to dress and go out too well — you 
 know poor dear Lady Carteret did love to dress and go 
 out ; and then, you know, she never spared herself; she 
 would talk, always talk — but it was to be so ; it was 
 ordained that she should die abroad." All this .... 
 and much more .... did she utter in a breath. . . . 
 I shall resume the thread of her discourse next winter, 
 for I daresay it will run on as long as the fatal sisters 
 spin the thread of her life. She asked after your Grace, 
 and gave a very cordial and friendly hum and thump 
 of satisfaction upon hearing you was well. The old 
 woman showed a love for Miss Carteret, which makes 
 me think she has more goodness than people suspect 
 her of.' ' 
 
 Lideed, there was a very great deal of goodness and 
 family affection in the old Countess. Li 1743, while 
 Carteret was with the King in Germany and the battle 
 of Dettingen was at hand, she wrote : — 
 
 ' Letters of Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu, II. 252-255. 
 
 B }i
 
 370 LOED CABTERET 
 
 ' My Dear Son, — You are infinitely kind and good 
 to me in making me easy about Lady Carteret, whose 
 illness has lain very heavy upon my spirits. I hope 
 she will have no relapse, and that we may have all a 
 happy meeting in October. I am glad to hear you 
 design to take your son under your protection, that I 
 may also see him. I am in great hopes he will turn 
 out a man of business, for there is nothing I detest so 
 much as an idle fellow. . . . The Duchess of Marl- 
 borough has been lately told that there has been a duel 
 between you and a foreign minister, which report does 
 not affect me in the least, though I can't help mention- 
 ing it. Fanny [Carteret's youngest daughter] presents 
 her most humble duty to you ; she writes a long letter 
 to her mama .... I beseech God to bless and pre- 
 serve you in good health, and give you success in all 
 your undertakings for the honour and glory of your 
 King and country. 
 
 ' I am, my dearest son, with gratitude and tenderness, 
 
 ' Entirely yours, 
 
 ' Granville.' ^ 
 The liady Carteret referred to in these letters was 
 Carteret's first wife, Frances, only daughter of Sir 
 Robert Worsley and of Frances, daughter of the first 
 Lord Weymouth. She was descended, on her mother's 
 side, from the Earl of Essex, Queen Elizabeth's un- 
 favoured favourite. Her mother. Lady Worsley, whom 
 we have already seen as the intimate friend of Swift, 
 had been, as Horace Walpole says, ' a beauty and 
 friend of Pope ' ; and as the living lustre of Lady 
 Carteret's eyes obtained Swift's metrical celebration, so 
 a verse of Pope's commemorates thatof Lady Worsley's.'^ 
 
 ' Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 32,416 ; foL 402. .lune o, 1743. 
 * See Pope's t^pistle to Jervas.
 
 1 
 
 PBIVATE LIFE—PEESONAL CHABACTEBTSTICS 371 
 
 Frances, the daughter, was born in 1694, and in 1710, 
 before she was seventeen, she married Carteret at Long- 
 leat. Like her mother, she was exceedingly beautiful, 
 and was one of the most brilliant ficrures at the Courts 
 of the first and second Georges. Mrs. Delany, who by 
 birth was one of the Granville family, and rather 
 vaguely speaks of Lord and Lady Carteret's children 
 as her ' cousins,' gives repeated proof of Lady Carteret's 
 supremacy among the beauties of the London world. 
 Swift said that when she was in Ireland she was hand- 
 somer than all the young beauties at the Castle Court 
 taken together ; and even when she was no longer 
 young, and was surrounded by her own beautiful mar- 
 ried daughters, the verdict of observers was at times 
 inclined to be : matre pulchra filia pulchrior. She 
 was very musical, too, having a fine voice which she 
 had taken great pains to cultivate, and delighting in 
 the operas, oratorios, and concerts which London en- 
 joyed in the days of Handel. She seems to have had 
 a kindliness of disposition and an easy agreeableness of 
 manner which were very attractive. The old Countess 
 Granville, not the readiest person to please or to be 
 pleased, said that Lady Carteret was as good as an 
 angel to her. She had not been many weeks in Dublin 
 before Dr. William King, the aged Archbishop of 
 Dublin, was with friendly familiarity spoken of as her 
 lover. Swift was always her attached friend. 
 
 Lord and Lady Carteret were happy in seeing their 
 children brilliantly established in life. Their eldest 
 daughter. Lady Grace Carteret, whose beauty as a child 
 was much rhymed about while Carteret was in Ireland, 
 married the third Earl of Dysart, and was the mother 
 of the fourth and fifth Earls. Louisa, the second 
 daughter, married Viscount Weymouth, and became 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 mistress of Longleat. Lady Louisa Carteret seems to 
 have had a large share of the cjood humour and com- 
 plaisance of mind and manner that characterised her 
 father and mother. The tliird daughter, Georgiana 
 Carolina, was first married to the Hon. John Spencer, 
 brother of Charles Duke of Marlborough, and grandson 
 of the Dowager Duchess. ' Daughters are no burden 
 to my Lord Carteret,' wrote Lord Berkeley of Stratton 
 on the occasion of this marriage. ' It is not the only 
 instance of his good luck.' Carteret was certainly well 
 satisfied with the marriages of his daughters; the more 
 so because they were marriages of affection, for neither 
 Lord nor Lady Carteret forced the inclinations of their 
 children. ' Choose a gentlewoman and please yourself,' 
 was the advice whicli Carteret once long afterwards 
 gave to one of his grandsons ; and he followed the same 
 principle in the case of his own daughters. The prin- 
 ciple worked well. Replying in 1735 to congratulations 
 from Swift, Carteret wrote : ' If alliances and the 
 tlioughts of prosperity can bind a man to the interests 
 of his country, I am certainly bound to stand by 
 liberty.' ' Our cousins are now growing the most con- 
 siderable people in tlie kingdom,' wrote Mrs. Delany 
 on the occasion of the marriage of the third daughter. 
 By her second marriage, the Hon. Mrs. Spencer became 
 Countess Cowper. 
 
 The marriages of her three eldest daughters took 
 place during the lifetime of Lady Carteret. In 1 743, 
 when Carteret was at the height of his power, Lady 
 Carteret accompanied him in his journey with the King 
 and the Duke of Cumberland to Hanover. There she 
 was taken ill ; and George, who was about to leave for 
 headquarters to fight his battle of Dettingen, offered 
 that Carteret should not accompany him to the army,
 
 PBIVATE LIFE— PERSONAL CHABACTEEISTICS 373 
 
 but should remain behind at Hanover. Lady Carteret 
 begged that she might not interrupt Carteret's service 
 to the King, and indeed she did not seem to be in any- 
 special danger. But she died in June, soon after the 
 Kiniij and Carteret had left for Aschaffenberg. From that 
 little town, on the day on which he received the news, 
 Carteret wrote to his late wife's confidential attendant : — 
 ' You may easily judge how much I sufier for my 
 irreparable loss, and I should be distracted if I did not 
 know that you had been with her, and that she has 
 been affectionately taken care of by you. If slie has 
 left you any directions for me, I beg I may know 
 them and I shall punctually and exactly obey them. I 
 entreat you not to leave Hanover till I return, for I 
 can't be easy without talking to you. I approve of 
 depositing the dear remains in a vault in a church 
 till further orders, in such a coffin as is fit for her 
 quality, and strong to bear carriage. It is a terrible 
 thing to be forced to write upon such subjects, but 
 I trust nobody but you, and that there may be no mis- 
 take I would not write by anybody but myself for 
 more sureness .... I will keep up my spirits as well 
 as I can under this great misfortune. I have not 
 written to my family. I have not seen my son since I 
 knew this fatal news, which was but this morning.' ^ 
 Lady Carteret's body was brought over to England in 
 November 1743 in the ship in whicli Carteret himself 
 returned ; and though then Carteret outwardly appeared 
 in good spirits, those who knew him thought they were 
 assumed and outward only. Lady Carteret left behind 
 her one unmarried daughter. Lady Frances Carteret, 
 who in 1748 became Marchioness of Tweeddale. Like 
 all her sisters. Lady Frances was very musical, and like 
 
 ' Brit. Mus. Add. MS3. 32,416; fol. 410. June l:j-24, 1743.
 
 374 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 her father she was an accompHshed hnguist. Three 
 months after her marriage Horace Walpole met her, 
 and said that she was ' infinitely good-humoured and 
 good company, and sang a thousand Frencli songs 
 mighty prettily.' In 1749 the Earl of Morton wrote of 
 her to Andrew Mitchell, afterwards the well-known 
 ambassador to Frederick the Great: 'I saw your 
 Marquis and his lady at Tester. It is a noble house, 
 and the lady seems mightily pleased with it and with 
 the country. She is very merry and easy, and sang 
 Greek, Frencli, and Scotch songs to me.' ^ Mrs. Delany 
 thought there was more sentiment in the Marchioness 
 of Tweeddale than in any other member of the family, 
 and her own directions for her funeral do not contra- 
 dict this view. She long survived her husband, and 
 ordered that she should be buried as near him as 
 possible, wearing her wedding-ring, and with her hus- 
 band's letters to her in her coffin. 
 
 In April 1744 Carteret astonished the London world 
 by a second marriage. Gossip had been associating 
 his name with a relative of his own, the Honourable 
 Elizabeth Granville, daughter of Pope's friend Lord 
 Lansdowne. Daisy, as her friends called her, was one 
 of tlie maids of honour, celebrated for her beauty, and 
 very affectionately treated by Carteret and all his family. 
 Some of them indeed tliouijjht that Carteret's kindness 
 to her was excessive, and that he made too great a 
 ' fuss ' with Daisy. But there was nothing more than 
 kindness in it. Speculating gossipers, as well as the 
 worlds of fasliion and of politics, experienced the be- 
 wildering pleasure of a total surprise when it was 
 suddenly announced that the leading English minister 
 was to marry the leading English beauty of the day, 
 
 ' Bisset's Mitchell, I. 13 n.
 
 PBIVATE LIFE— PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 875 
 
 Lady Sophia Fermor, daughter of Lord and Lady 
 Poinfret. 
 
 Lady Pomfret, who, as Boswell could not help 
 coming from Scotland, could not help being the grand- 
 daughter of Judge Jeffreys (though on her mother's 
 side she traced her descent from Edward I), was one 
 of those well-meaning but fuss}^, meddlesome, and ter- 
 ribly inconsequential women of whom it is impossible 
 for posterity to see anything but the slightly ridiculous 
 side. She had been Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen 
 Caroline ; and leaving Court in 1737, on the death of 
 the Queen, went abroad with her husband and family, 
 arriving at last at Florence towards the close of 1739. 
 There the Pomfrets hired a vast palace and gardens 
 that had belonged to the Medici, and held weekly 
 gatherings much frequented by English and Italian 
 society. The English ambassador, Sir Horace Mann, 
 Lady Mary Montagu, Horace Walpole, Lord Lincoln 
 with his governor. Pope's friend Spence, and many 
 others were among their guests. Lady Pomfret, a well- 
 educated woman, but with a fatal turn for amateurish 
 pedantry, dabbled in hterature ; translated Froissart ; 
 is said to have written a life of Vandyke, of which for- 
 tunately nothing is known ; and corresponded profusely 
 with the Countess of Hertford, mingling gossip on books, 
 antiquities, art, and Italian sight-seeing with very bad 
 verses of the descriptive kind. Horace Walpole, who 
 had certain private reasons of his own for a grudge 
 against her, takes specially malicious delight in dwelling 
 on the ridiculous side of Lady Pomfret. He makes her 
 responsible for sayings as solemnly absurd as if they 
 had been the Duke of Newcastle's. He writes once to 
 his friend Mann in November 1741 :— 
 
 'Lady Townshend told me an admirable history ; it
 
 376 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 is of our friend, Lady Pomfret. Somebody that belonged 
 to tlie Prince of Wales said, they were going to Court ; 
 it was objected that they ought to say, going to Carlton 
 House ; that the only Court is where the King resides. 
 Lady Pomfret with her paltry air of significant learning 
 and absurdity, said, " Oh Lord ! is there no Court in 
 England but the King's ? Sure there are many more ! 
 There is the Court oi Chancery, the Court of Exchequer, 
 the Court of King's Bench, etc." Don't you love her ? ' 
 Horace Walpole did not love her ; but it is tolerably 
 clear that he loved one of her daughters as much as an 
 amateur dilettante and fashionable fribble could. He 
 had a portrait of Lady Sophia as Juno in his miscella- 
 neous toyshop at Strawberry Hill. ' Harry, you must 
 come and be in love with Lady Sophia Fermor ; all the 
 world is or should be,' he wrote to his friend Conway 
 in October 1741, when he and the Pomfrets had come 
 back by different routes to Ijondon. All the world 
 included himself ; and the pains he takes to be elabo- 
 rately sarcastic at Lady Pomfret's expense admit of a 
 very simple explanation. Lady Pomfret had practically 
 warned him off. She by no means intended the first 
 Enghsh beauty of the day to entangle herself with the 
 youngest son of a mere country squire. Suitors far 
 more eligible than Horace Walpole could not be want- 
 ing ; one, whose success would not have displeased 
 Lady Pomfret, had already been fluttering around 
 Lady Sophia on the Continent, sharing the sight-seeing 
 and Italian entertainments of which she was the beauti- 
 ful centre. This was Lord Lincoln, nephew of the 
 ridiculous Duke of Newcastle. Lincoln seems to have 
 been decidedly serious in his attentions ; but Newcastle 
 could interfere with as meddlesome effectiveness in love 
 as in politics. He insisted, for prudential family reasons,
 
 PRIVATE LIFE— PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 377 
 
 that Lincoln should marry Pelham's eldest daughter. 
 Lincoln sighed as a lover, and obeyed as a nephew. 
 
 The Pomfrets returned to Enodand in October 1741, 
 and Lady Sophia at once became the reigning beauty 
 in London as she had been the recognised queen at 
 Florence. People did not wonder ; for, as Lady Mary 
 Montagu, who knew her well, said. Lady Sophia Fer- 
 mor's beauty was her least merit. She was as famous 
 at the Court of George II. as her accidentally better 
 remembered relative, the Arabella Fermor of the Rape 
 of the Loch^ had been at Queen Anne's. ' Handsomer 
 than all,' she was, says Horace Walpole, at a famous 
 London ball in 1741 ; 'but a little out of humour at 
 the scarcity of minuets ; however, as usual, she danced 
 more than anybody, and, as usual too, took out what 
 men she liked or thoug;ht the best dancers.' ^ Those 
 who knew her felt no surprise at her successes. 'I am 
 very well acquainted with Lady Sophia Fermor,' wrote 
 Lady Mary Montagu in 1744, ' having lived two months 
 in the same house with her. I shall never be surprised 
 at her conquests.' But there was some surprise when 
 the effectual conquest proved to be that of the leading 
 English minister. The story of this episode in Carteret's 
 life must not be told by any other than Horace Wal- 
 pole ; but allowance must constantly be made for his 
 
 ^ This was a ball at Sir Thomas Robinson's ; not the Sir Thomas of 
 Vienna and diplomacy, but another, eccentric man : ' a tall uncouth man ; 
 and his stature was often rendered still more remarkable by his hunting- 
 dress, a postilion's cap, a tight green jacket, and buckskin breeches. He was 
 liable to sudden whims, and once set off on a sudden in his hunting-suit to 
 visit his sister, who was married and settled at Paris. He arrived while 
 there was a large company at dinner. The servant announced M. Robinson , 
 and he came in, to the great amizementof the guests. Among others, a 
 French abbe thrice lifted his fork to his mouth and thrice laid it down, with 
 an eager stare of surprise. Unable to restrain his curiosity any longer, he 
 burst out with, " Excuse me, Sir, are you the famous Robimon Crusoe so 
 remarkable in history?"' WalpoUana, II. l:j(), 131.
 
 878 LORD CARTERET 
 
 general affectation and exaggeration, his delight in 
 assisting Lady Pomfret to make herself ridiculous, and 
 his thinly concealed pique that Lady Sophia Fermor 
 was quite out of his own reach. Walpole kept his 
 friend Mann at Florence fully informed of the doings 
 of the London world : — • 
 
 ' Who do you think is going to marry Lady Sophia 
 Fermor ? — Only my Lord Carteret !— this very week ! — 
 a drawing-room conquest. Do but imagine how many 
 passions will be gratified in that family ! Her own 
 ambition, vanity, and resentment — love she never had 
 any ; ^ the politics, management, and pedantry of the 
 mother, who will think to govern her son-in-law out 
 of Froissart. Figure the instructions she will give 
 her daughter ! Lincoln is quite indifferent, and laughs. 
 My Lord Chesterfield says, " It is only another of Car- 
 teret's vigorous measures." I am really glad of it, for 
 her beauty and cleverness did deserve a better fate 
 than she was on the point of having determined for 
 her for ever. How graceful, how charming, and how 
 hauglitily condescending she will be ! How, if Lincoln 
 should ever hint past history, she will 
 
 Stare upon the strange man's face 
 As one she ne'er had known.' 
 
 This letter was written near the end of March 1744 ; 
 but the wedding was slightly delayed by Lady Sophia's 
 illness. Scarlet fever attacked her, and for four-and- 
 twenty hours she was in serious danger. On Carteret's 
 side, sympathetic anxiety brought on a fit of the gout. 
 
 ' My Lord Carteret's wedding has been deferred on 
 Lady Sophia's falling dangerously ill of a scarlet fever ; 
 but they say it is to be next Saturday. She is to have 
 
 ' Because she did not love me, Horace means.
 
 PRIVATE LIFE— PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 379 
 
 sixteen hundred pounds a year jointure, four hundred 
 pounds pin-money, and two thousand of jewels. Car- 
 teret says he does not intend to marry the mother and 
 the whole family. What do you think my Lady in- 
 tends ? ' 
 
 On the evening of April 14, 1744, the marriage 
 took place at Lord Pomfret's house. Carteret's mother, 
 the very old Countess Granville, was invited, but did 
 not go ; his own daughters he purposely did not invite, 
 fearing, says Mrs. Delan}^ that it might affect them too 
 much, ' and he has indeed,' she adds, ' acted with a 
 tenderness towards them that I did not imagine had 
 been in his nature.' Horace Walpole prattles on : — 
 
 ' The chief entertainment has been the nuptials of 
 our great Quixote and the fair Sophia. On the point 
 of matrimony she fell ill of a scarlet fever, and was given 
 over, while he had the gout, but heroically sent her 
 word that if she was well he would be so. TJiey cor- 
 responded every day, and he used to plague the Cabinet 
 Councils with readincf her letters to them. Last night 
 they were married, and as all he does must have a 
 particular air in it, they supped at Lord Pomfret's. At 
 twelve. Lady Granville, his mother, and all his family 
 w^ent to bed, but the porter : then my Lord went home, 
 and waited for her in the lodge ; she came alone in a 
 hackney-chair, met him in the hall, and w^as led up the 
 back-stairs.' 
 
 Walpole's circumstantial account has the disadvan- 
 tage of being inaccurate ; Lord and Lady Carteret 
 returned to their home together, in the usual way of 
 reasonable beings ; but it w^ould have been less piquant 
 to say so in a letter intended to supply gossip to Lady 
 Sophia's friends and admirers in Florence. The Flor- 
 entines were delighted at the English beauty's success,
 
 380 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 and with enthusiastic daring rushed into Latin hexa- 
 meters and Itahan Cantatas in celebration of the mar- 
 riao'e of tlie Enoiish minister and the ' Farmoria virco.' 
 London congratulations and festivities over the affair 
 were also very numerous : — 
 
 ' There is to be a great ball to-morrow at the 
 Duchess of Eichmond's for my Lady Carteret : the 
 Prince is to be tliere. Carteret's court pay her the 
 highest honours, which she receives with the highest 
 state. I have seen her but once, and found her just 
 what I expected, trh-grande dame ; full of herself, and 
 yet not with an air of happiness. She looks ill and is 
 grown lean, but is still the finest figure in the world. 
 The mother is not so exalted as I expected ; I fancy 
 Carteret has kept his resolution, and does not marry 
 her too. . . . 
 
 ' I will not fail to make your comphments to the 
 Pomfrets and Carterets ; I see them seldom, but I am in 
 favour ; so I conclude, for my Lady Pomfret told me 
 the other night that I said better things than anybody. 
 I was with them at a subscription ball at Eanelagh last 
 week, which my Lady Carteret thought proper to look 
 upon as given to her, and tlianked the gentlemen, who 
 were not quite so well-pleased at her condescending 
 to take it to herself. My Lord stayed with her there till 
 four in the morning. They are all fondness — walk to- 
 getlier and stop every five steps to kiss. . . . The ball 
 was on an excessively hot night ; yet she was dressed in 
 a magnificent brocade, because it was new that morning 
 for the inauguration day. I did the honours of all her 
 dress : "How charming your ladysliip's cross is ! I am 
 sure the design was your own!" — "No, indeed, my 
 Lord sent it me just as itis. " — " How fine your ear-rings 
 are I " — " Oh ! but they are very heavy." Then as much
 
 PRIVATE LIFE— PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 381 
 
 to the mother. Do you wonder I say better things than 
 anybody ? . . . 
 
 ' I met my Lady Carteret the other day at Knapton's, 
 and desired leave to stay while she sat for her pic- 
 ture. She is drawn crowned with corn, like the Goddess 
 of Plenty, and a mild dove in her arms, like Mrs. 
 Venus. . . . 
 
 ' You would be diverted with the grandeur of our 
 old Florence beauty. Lady Carteret. She dresses more 
 extravagantly, and grows more short-sighted every day; 
 she can't walk a step without leaning on one of her 
 ancient daughters-in-law. Lord Tweeddale and Lord 
 Bathurst are her constant gentleman-ushers. She lias 
 not quite digested her resentment to Lincoln yet. . . . 
 Here is a good epigram that has been made on her : — 
 
 Her beauty, like the Scripture feast, 
 To which the invited never came, 
 
 Deprived of its intended guest. 
 
 Was given to the old and lame. . . . 
 
 ' My lady is in the honeymoon of her grandeur. She 
 lives in public places, whither she is escorted by the old 
 beaux of her husband's court ; fair white-wigged old 
 gallants, the Duke of Bolton, Lord Tweeddale, Lord 
 Bathurst, and Charles Fielding ; and she all ovei knots, 
 and small hoods, and ribbons. Her brother told me 
 the other night, " Indeed, I think my thister doesth 
 countenanth Eanelagh too mutch!" They call my Lord 
 Pomfret Kino; Stanislaus, the Queen's father.' 
 
 So far Horace Walpole's superficial and exaggerated 
 gossip. One slight reference to the marriage is from 
 Carteret himself. He wrote to his friend Tyrawley, the 
 English ambassador to Russia : — 
 
 ' I thank you for your particular kind letter on my
 
 382 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 marriage. My lady will always be glad of the oITers 
 you make. Our friendship has been long, my dear lord, 
 and shall remain as long as I live. 
 
 'l!iow for a joke, was it not a bold thing in me to 
 marry so young and so line a woman as Lady Sophia 
 Fermor ? But it turns out well, with all the laudades 
 imaginable. Adios, tu atento y seguro aervidor hasta la 
 muerte, 
 
 'Carteket.'^ 
 
 Tyrawley replied : — 
 
 ' In answer to your joke, I always took you for a 
 bold man. My Lady Carteret is certainly what your 
 lordship says. I used to see her sometimes at the 
 Duchess of Pdchmond's, and I tliought her in person, 
 understanding, behaviour, and in all respects, by much 
 the finest young lady in England. I must now quote 
 two or three lines on this subject, out of a letter I lately 
 received from Madame de Wendt, from Hanover :^ — 
 " Que pensez-vous, milord, de 7iotre cher Milord Carteret, 
 qui s'est console si tot avec une jeune femme de la perte de 
 7iotre bonne Miladi f Ne justifie-t-il pas Men ce qaa dit 
 quelqiiun que cest un ohjet vivant qui console d'un mort V'^ 
 
 Granville's fall from power did not affect the bril- 
 liancy of his new Countess or the great popularity of 
 her weekly receptions. This vexed the soul of tlie 
 Pelhams. The ridiculous Duke had already this year 
 behaved with excessive absurdity over another famous 
 marriage that had followed a month after Carteret's. 
 As the Duke of Eichmond refused to listen to Henry 
 Fox's proposal of marriage with Lady Caroline Lennox, 
 Fox and Lady CaroHne settled matters for themselves 
 by a private wedding. To Newcastle's fussy meddle- 
 
 1 Add. MSS. 23,631 ; fol. 33. August 28, 1714. 
 ' Add. MSS. 23,631 ; fol. 82.
 
 PRIVATE LIFE—PEBSONAL CHABACTEBISTICS 383 
 
 someness this rather innocent performance seemed on a 
 level with important business of state. When Carteret 
 was going through the rooms one day at Kensington, 
 soon after the news of this wedding had spread, he was 
 summoned up to Newcastle to talk of a ' most unfortu- 
 nate affair,' a matter greatly affecting the Duke, who 
 would not make any secret of it from Carteret. ' I 
 thought,' said Carteret, ' tliat our fleet was beaten, or 
 that Mons had been betrayed to the French, At last it 
 came out that Harry Fox was married, which I knew 
 before. This man, who is Secretary of State, cannot be 
 consoled because two people, to neither of whom he is 
 any relation, were married without tlieir parents' con- 
 sent ! ' All the town was soon lau^liinof at Newcastle 
 and his ' most unfortunate affair.' The Duke also made 
 himself ridiculous over Countess Granville's dangerous 
 entertainments, and even complained to Orford that 
 Horace Walpole frequented them ; but Orford only 
 laughed at him and his timid absurdity : — 
 
 ' The great present disturbance in politics is my 
 Lady Granville's assembly ; which I do assure you 
 distresses the Pelhams infinitely more than a mys- 
 terious meeting of the States would, and far more than 
 the abrupt breaking up of tlie Diet at Grodno. She 
 had begun to keep Tuesdays before her lord resigned, 
 Avhich now she continues with greater zeal. His house 
 is very fine, she very handsome, her lord very agreeable 
 and extraordinary ; and yet the Duke of Newcastle 
 wonders that people will go thither. He mentioned to 
 my father my going there, who laughed at him. . . . 
 You can't imagine how my Lady Granville shines in 
 doing honours ; you know she is made for it. My lord 
 has new furnished his mother's apartment for her, 
 and has given her a magnificent set of dressing-plate ;
 
 384 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 he is very fond of her, and she as fond of his being 
 so.' 
 
 One hist quotation from Walpole closes the story 
 of this too brief happiness : — 
 
 ' Before I talk of any public news, I must tell you 
 what you will be very sorry for — Lady Granville is 
 dead. She had a fever for six weeks before her lying-in, 
 and could never get it off. Last Saturday they called 
 in another physician, Dr. Oliver : on Monday he pro- 
 nounced her out of danger. About seven in the even- 
 ing, as Lady Pomfret and Lady Charlotte ^ were sitting 
 by her, the lirst notice they had of her immediate 
 danger was her sighing and saying, " I feel death come 
 very fast upon me ! " She repeated the same words 
 frequently — remained perfectly in her senses and calm, 
 and died about eleven at night. Her mother and sister 
 sat by her till she was cold. It is very shocking for 
 anybody so young, so handsome, so arrived at the 
 height of happiness, so sensible of it, and on whom 
 all the joy and grandeur of her family depended, to be 
 so quickly snatched away ! ' 
 
 Countess Granville died on October 7, 1745. Her 
 only child, Sophia, became in 1765 the wife of Lord 
 Shelburne, first Marquis of Lansdowne. 
 
 The town, in its gossiping way, was soon busying 
 itself with rumours of a possible third marriage of Lord 
 Granville. The town was quite wrong in that. For 
 the last seventeen years of his life Granville was a 
 widower. When his httle daughter Sophia was ten 
 years old, he took her home from the care of Lady 
 Pomfret ; and he had a son of his first marriage surviv- 
 ing to succeed him in the title. His two eldest sons had 
 
 ' Lady Charlotte Fermor, Countess Granville's sister. She was gover- 
 ness to the children of George III., and died at St. James's in 1813, aged 88.
 
 PBIVATE LIFE—PEBSONAL CHABACTEBISTICS 385 
 
 died in infancy ; the third, Eobert, in striking contrast 
 with the brilUancy of tlie other members of his family, 
 made no figure in the world, and has left no memory 
 behind him. He succeeded to the earldom on his 
 father's death in 1763, and himself died, unmarried, in 
 1776, when the title of Granville became extinct. 
 
 As a parliamentar)^ orator Granville, b}^ common 
 consent, stood in the very highest rank. He had the 
 physical advantage of a fine person, graceful manners, 
 and a very handsome countenance. He was of ' com- 
 manding beauty,' says Lord Shelburne ; and Horace 
 Walpole uses the same expression : — 
 
 Commanding beauty, smoothed by cheerful grace, 
 Sat on the open features of his face. 
 
 Swift speaks of his ' most comely and graceful person,' 
 and chose as tlie motto of a welcoming poem, when 
 Carteret was expected in Ireland as Lord-Lieutenant, 
 Virgil's line : — 
 
 Gratior et pnlchro veniens in corpore virtus. 
 
 But his oratory could easily have dispensed with these 
 not unwelcome physical enhancements. He shone in 
 all styles as a speaker. His reputation in the grand 
 style of eloquence was very great. Demosthenes had 
 been his special study. He was also as efTective in 
 argumentative as in declamatory speech. No orator's 
 fine phrases or rhetorical ingenuity could hide from him 
 the real point of any question at issue. Chesterfield 
 was not inclined to be too lenient a critic of Granville ; 
 yet Chesterfield says of him : ' He was one of the best 
 speakers in the House of Lords, botli in tlie declama- 
 tory and the argumentative way. He had a wonderful 
 quickness and precision in seizing the stress of a ques- 
 
 C C
 
 386 LOED CAliTERET 
 
 tioii, which no art, no sophistry, could disguise to liini.' 
 Granville's really wonderful political knowledge would 
 have enabled him, even if he had possessed no extra- 
 ordinary rhetorical gifts, to be a political speaker 
 always worth listening to. Even very ordinary persons 
 can generally speak fairly well on subjects with which 
 tliey are thoroughly acquainted. But Carteret was not 
 an ordinary person, and his almost boundless informa- 
 tion was displayed in parliamentary discussion with all 
 the charm of a rich and cultured eloquence Mdiich 
 flowed, thought Walpole, ' from a source of wit, gran- 
 deur, and knowledge.' It was rich in historical allusion, 
 and often very pleasantly flavoured by Carteret's easy 
 familiarity with the classics. Lord Shelburne, who, 
 however, had never himself heard Granville, thought 
 that his oratory was suited rather for the Senate than 
 for the people. If it had been otherwise, it would liave 
 been eloquence out of place ; for what other audience 
 than the Senate had an English statesman in the reign 
 of George II. ? But while Granville's eloquence was 
 doubtless usually cast in tlie grand style which was 
 familiar to the House of Cowper and Bolingbroke 
 and Mansfield, he could, when occasion required, speak 
 in the plainest language of idiomatic homeliness and 
 matter-of-fact unconventionality. A militia bill which 
 he opposed he called ' impracticable nonsense,' and ' a 
 shoeiufy-horn to faction.' Wlien in 1732 the House of 
 Lords was engaged with Bentley and his academical 
 quarrels, Carteret called some of the articles which 
 Trinity College brought against the Master ' the dis- 
 tempered frenzies of cloistered zealots.' ^ He was also 
 especially well-known for the idiomatic directness of his 
 language in private conversation. Before the outbreak 
 
 1 Monk's Bentley, p. 596.
 
 PRIVATE LIFE— PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 387 
 
 of the Seven Years' War, lie opposed any interference 
 with French trading- vessels, and called it ' vexing your 
 neighbours for a little muck.' The smaller European 
 Princes, whose assistance could only be had after much 
 haggling and cheapening of bargains, were in Carteret's 
 language ' Shopkeeper Kings.' When the war with 
 France began badly, and Newcastle with scared timi- 
 dity begged Granville to become Prime Minister, he 
 replied : ' I will be hanged a little before I take j^oiir 
 place, rather than a little after.' In a letter to Swift he 
 speaks of an insignificant legal functionary as a ' machine 
 in a furred gown.' He was asked once who wrote the 
 King's speech in a certain year. It was the Lord Chan- 
 cellor Hardwicke. ' Do you not see,' said Granville, 
 ' the blunt pen of the old Attorney ? ' He was probably 
 speaking of the undisguised inconsistency of })oliticians 
 in and out of place, when he said to the King that no 
 two thin2:s were so different as a cat in a hole and a 
 cat out of a hole. 
 
 In private life Carteret's wit and conversational 
 powers, his humour and his good humour, made him 
 very attractive. He was a great talker, with a very ex- 
 tensive range of subjects. He had the Englishman's 
 rarest gift, the art of conversation. But his table-talk 
 has all vanished. Horace Walpole might have preserved 
 much of it, but amusing letters are so much more easily 
 filled with ball-room gossip or with George Selwyn's 
 dreary fantasticalities on coffins and corpses. Carteret's 
 talk was not of the Selwyn type. It was not of that 
 rather wearisome verbal cleverness which finds a sure 
 perpetuation in jest-books and anecdote corners. Car- 
 teret could talk epigrammatically enough wlicn lie 
 cliosc. Steele and Addison, he said, were excellent 
 companions for an evening, the one at its beginning, 
 
 c c 2
 
 388 LOUD CABTEIIET 
 
 the other towards the close ; for by tlie time that Steele 
 had drunk himself down, Addison had drunk himself 
 up. But Carteret's mind was too rich and full to be 
 ever on the strain to say something striking which 
 might be quoted in the clubs and coffee-liouses as Lord 
 Carteret's last good thing. He was, says Lord Shelburne, 
 overflowing with wit, but ' not so much a diseur de hons 
 mots, like Lord Chesterfield, as a man of comprehensive 
 ready wit, which at once saw to the bottom, and whose 
 imagination never failed him. ... He said that such a 
 man was a stupid man, but an admirable hearer. He 
 said his house was tlie neutral port of the Finches, 
 who carried on the conversation by each of them ad- 
 dressing him and never each other. He said when all 
 his other stories failed him, Ireland was a constant 
 resource. During his stay there as Lord-Lieutenant, 
 there was no end of the ridicule with which it supplied 
 him.' 
 
 Carteret's good-humour was not less attractive than 
 his conversation. He was never ' as disagreeable as the 
 occasion would permit.' His wit, frankness, and hospi- 
 tahty, and the accomplisliments and attractions of his 
 family, made his house very popular ; and he never 
 allowed political differences to interfere with the inter- 
 course of social life. His refined simplicity liated flattery ; 
 his open frankness and easy familiarity removed all 
 coldness from his aristocratic breeding. Plain and 
 simple in his manner, Lord Shelburne found him on 
 the one occasion on whicli lie saw him ; and Carteret 
 liked his friends to be plain and simple witli liim. When 
 he was Lord -Lieutenant of L-eland he dehghted to visit 
 men of wit and learning on the most homely terms, 
 and was disappointed when his unexpected arrival was 
 received with ceremonious apologies for omissions and
 
 PBIVA1E LIFE— PERSONAL CHABACTEBISTICS 389 
 
 defects. Dr. Delaiiy especially pleased him by the eas}^ 
 unembarrassment with which he welcomed him when 
 Carteret once unexpectedly called upon the Doctor, and 
 said he was come to dine : — 
 
 ' Others,' said Carteret to Delany, ' whom I have 
 tried the same experiment on, have met me in as much 
 confusion as if I came to arrest them for high treason ; 
 nay, they would not give me a moment of their con- 
 versation, which, and not their dinner, I sought; but 
 hurry from me, and then, if I had any appetite, deprive 
 me of it by their fulsome apologies for defects. This is 
 like a story I heard the Dean [Swift] tell of a lady who 
 had sfiven him an invitation to dinner. As she heard 
 lie was not easily pleased, she had taken a month to 
 provide for it. When the time came, every delicacy 
 which could be purchased the lady had prepared, even 
 to profusion, whicli you know Swift hated However, 
 the Dean was scarce seated, when she began to make a 
 ceremonious harangue ; in which she told him that she 
 was sincerely sorry she had not a more tolerable dinner, 
 since she was apprehensive there was not anything there 
 fit for him to eat ; in short that it was a bad dinner. 
 [Here Swift swore as only an eighteenth-century clergy- 
 man could, and asked^ "Why did you not get a better? 
 Sure you had time enough ! But since you say it is so 
 bad, I'll e'en go home and eat a herring. Accordingly 
 he departed,' ^ 
 
 Carteret carried his good-humour into public hfe. 
 He took success and defeat with the same good natured 
 cheerfulness, and was quite indifferent to personal abuse. 
 Lord Hervey has preserved a characteristic instance of 
 the unruffled and even amused complacency w^tli which 
 
 ^ Mrs. Pilkington's Memoirs, III. 67-70. Not a good authority ; but 
 tlie above is in accordance with tlie characters of both Carteret and Swift.
 
 390 LORD CARTE BET 
 
 Carteret listened to the unjust reproaches of disap- 
 pointed poUticians. On one occasion during the long 
 opposition to Walpole, the minister's Tory enemies in 
 the House of Lords thouo^ht that Carteret had been too 
 moderate ; and one of them, in Ilervey's hearing, said 
 to him with the due spicing of ]:)rofanity which gives so 
 line a flavour to much of the genuine old Tory dialect 
 
 of tlie day : ' " By , Carteret, I know not what you 
 
 mean by tliis ; but wliatever you mean, I believe after 
 this you will not find it very easy to get any party or 
 any set of men to trust you again. I am sure I will not ; 
 and where you will find fools that will, I don't know. . . . 
 
 By , Carteret, we all know you." . . . Lord Carteret 
 
 turned to us who were sitting by him and said, with 
 a cheerful unconcern, not at all affected or put on, 
 but quite natural, " Poor Aylesford is really angry." ' 
 And Lord Mansfield told Marchmont that throughout 
 the long intrigue which drove Carteret from power in 
 1744 Carteret's behaviour had been admirable ; that he 
 had never once lost his temper. This fineness of temper 
 is the more noticeable because Carteret was politically 
 ambitious, and made no ])harisaical attempt to deny 
 that on repeated occasions Walpole and tlie Pelhams 
 had used him badly. It would have been easy to have 
 been good-hum ouredly careless if Carteret had been 
 sick of power or pining for retreat. But in 1744 
 Carteret was in tlie full vigour of his activity, and an 
 anecdote which must refer to the time when he was 
 made Lord President of the Council shows that many 
 years later, when his health was already breaking, it 
 was not because he was indiflerent to power that he 
 bore no vindictiveness. Carteret was cheerful and un- 
 resentful though he felt wounded. He had given to a 
 friend a copy of the polyglot Bible, and his friend had
 
 PBIVATE LIFE—PEBSONAL CIIABAGTEBISTICS B91 
 
 rebound it in a sumptuous manner. Carteret saw the 
 book in its adorned condition, and said, ' You have done 
 with it as the King has done with me : he made me fine 
 and he laid me by.' 
 
 No man was more fiercely attacked with personali- 
 ties than Carteret, but he never returned the abuse, and 
 kept no vindictiveness. ' He was neither ill-natured 
 nor vindictive,' says Chesterfield, rather superfluously. 
 He had frequent opportunities of revenging himself 
 upon the Pelhams, but he only laughed at them instead.^ 
 A smaller man than Carteret would have remembered 
 with bitterness the outrageous personal attacks, the 
 lavish insolence, and tJie cruelly unjust rhetorical vitu- 
 peration with which Pitt, in the stormy days of his 
 political irresponsibihty, had not been too proud to 
 assist the commonplace Pelhams and Harringtons and 
 Hardwickes in their intrigues against the colleague whom 
 they envied and feared. But Carteret forgot all that ; 
 and it was perhaps not without some well-justified feel- 
 ings of remorse that, long after Carteret's death, the 
 Earl of Chatham spoke of him in the House of Lords as 
 ' this great man,' and added : ' I feel a pride in declaring 
 that to his patronage, to his friendship and instruction 
 I owe whatever I am.' ^ Carteret had been most unfairly 
 and most unjustly treated by Walpole ; yet when Walpole 
 had fallen and the triumphant majority of his enemies 
 were using means fair and unfair to prove him guilty of 
 illegal practices, it was Carteret who opposed an unjust bill 
 
 ' But first to Carteret fain you'd sing ; 
 Indeed he's nearest to the King, 
 
 Yet careless bow you use bim ; 
 Give him, I beg, no labour'd lays, 
 He will not promise if you praise. 
 
 And laugh if you abuse him ! — Political L'cdlad of 17 -i'J. 
 2 Parliament urij Histvry, XVI. 1,097. Nov. 22, 1770.
 
 392 LOBD CARTEBET 
 
 which tlie Commons had passed against the late minister, 
 and led tlie Lords in rejecting it. And Carteret was as 
 faithful to his friends as he was placable to his enemies. 
 When his early patron, Sunderland, died in 1722, it was 
 rumoured that the French Eegent Orleans had in con- 
 versation accused Sunderland of intricfuinof with tlie 
 Jacobites. Carteret, whose health had suffered through 
 Sunderland's death, wrote to his friend Schaub at Paris, 
 asking for an explanation of this very ridiculous charge. 
 In a letter which was not meant for show, for it was 
 marked, ' very secret ; burn this,' Carteret said : 'I will 
 sooner die than give up my friend's character, which I 
 will contend for to the hazard of everything.' ^ 
 
 Beyond his humour and his good-humour, Carteret 
 had in public life high spirit and infinite courage. He 
 was not a degenerate descendant of the Sir PhiHp 
 Carterets and the Sir Eichard Grenvilles. ' The Gran- 
 ville blood has too much fire in it to bear stewino- ! ' 
 wrote his daughter. Countess Cowper, once after a visit 
 to an unwholesomely heated house. Carteret's briUiant 
 boldness was naturally the characteristic which most 
 impressed the average observer in his own day ; for it 
 made him stand out in strong relief from the plodding 
 commonplace of Walpoles, Pelhams, Hardwickes, and 
 Harringtons. But his daring and s]/irit were not at all 
 what they have too often been misrepresented to be. 
 ]*)y bitter political opponents in the later years of his 
 own life, and often by more modern writers who, if 
 tliey had taken the trouble to look at what Carteret 
 himself has written, could hardly have made the mistake, 
 Carteret has been confidently described as a man of 
 erratic, dashing, foohslily daring audacity. In the 
 dimly veiled nomenclature of the political pamphlets of 
 
 ' Brit. Mus. Sloane MSS. 4,204 ; foL C", G8.
 
 PBIVATE LIFE—PEBSONAL CHABACTEBISTICS 393 
 
 the time, while Newcastle is Bubble-Boy and Walpole 
 is Bob Bronze, Carteret, John Bull's steward, is Jack 
 Headlong. Bat Carteret's fearlessness in politics rested 
 on his unrivalled political knowledge, and was altogether 
 different from the wild daring of the adventurer who 
 is bold only because he is ignorant. Carteret always 
 knew what he wanted, and was perfectly content to 
 take the every-day method of obtaining it ; but if every- 
 day methods failed, he was not afraid to meet unusual 
 difficulties with unusual spirit. When in his northern 
 negotiations as English mediator he accepted, on his own 
 responsibility, Prussian and Danish treaties with Sweden 
 whicli the Prussian and Danish ministers were afraid to 
 put their hands to, he was undoubtedly bold, but he 
 was not rash. He did it only after the most patient 
 painstaking and long continued laborious endeavour ; 
 and he expressly said that he disHked the bold strokes 
 which, however, he was not afraid to make. Bold 
 action which is the result of mature consideration and 
 perfect acquaintance with the facts of a case has no 
 connection with impetuous recklessness. When in tlie 
 continental war Carteret proposed schemes which the 
 other, ministers rejected as wildly daring, it was because 
 long study and varied experience had made him a 
 master of European politics, while liis colleagues knew 
 little more than the rudiments of the science. But 
 misrepresentation is the easiest of all political arts ; and 
 nothing was simpler than to assert over and over again 
 that Carteret's plans were all mere audacity and foolish 
 daring. This has become tlie stale commonplace of 
 every political reference tliat may occasionally be made 
 to him ; till it is almost as tiresome to be told that 
 Carteret was reckless as it is to be told that Hooker 
 was judicious. At the same time, it is a little curious
 
 394 LOBD CABTERET 
 
 and not quite easily reconcilable with this facile criticism 
 to note til at a special characteristic of this reckless 
 statesman was his extraordinary devotion to work, and 
 his patient persistence in all the business that came 
 before him. He was always willing to take pains. 'I 
 have a w^orking brain,' he once wrote from Stockholm 
 in the thick of the diplomatic stupidities which weari- 
 somely interrupted his complicated negotiations. When 
 he went to Holland in 1742 to try to rouse the phleg- 
 matic Dutch from their lethargy, he told the function- 
 aries who represented to him all the difficulties Avhich he 
 would encounter, tliat he held the principle that nothing 
 in the world was impossible, and that his own experience 
 had taught him that persevering steadfastness in this 
 principle was the w^ay to success. This is hardly the 
 note of recklessness. 
 
 Persistent misrepresentation was one of the difficul- 
 ties which Carteret, like other statesmen, had to strugfjle 
 against ; but lie does not seem personally to have cared 
 much about it. While he undoubtedly had political 
 ambition, he was quite careless about pohtical popu- 
 larity in his own day. His political ambition was of 
 the kind which lie had vainly endeavoured to instill into 
 Henry Fox. The vulgar and merely insular ambitions 
 of politics had no attraction for him, and many of the 
 checks which he met with in his career were due to 
 his contemptuous neglect of the usual political methods 
 of his day. Winnington once found Carteret reading 
 Demosthenes, and told him he was working for his own 
 ruin. The Court Almanack^ said Winnington, was the 
 book which Carteret should have been studying. In- 
 dilTerent to popularity, he was careless of the usual 
 means of gaining it. It is easy to sympathise with and 
 appreciate his conduct in this matter ; but from the
 
 PRIVATE LIFE—PEESOXAL CHABACTEEISTICS 395 
 
 point of view of liis own political aims, his scornful 
 carelessness was often injudicious and certainly injurious 
 to him. It greatly w^eakened his power in parliament. 
 It was very natural that a man of genius should slight 
 and despise Newcastle ; but Newcastle was a great 
 parliamentary force, and Carteret treated him with 
 neglectful contempt. How much more prudent to have 
 managed Newcastle as Pitt managed him afterwards, 
 keeping the real mastery in his own hands, while allow- 
 ing the Duke to revel in his own congenial department! 
 It might have been more diificult for Carteret than for 
 Pitt to do this ; but it was Carteret's own maxim that 
 nothing was impossible. Newcastle in liis unmeaning 
 way said that Carteret was a man who never doubted. 
 He never doubted that Newcastle was a fool ; and im- 
 prudently he did not care to conceal what he thought. 
 Small personal neglects irritated colleagues who were 
 already sufficiently inclined to be jealous ; and Carteret's 
 carelessness of everything but the strictly political side 
 of politics did not attract to his support the rather 
 numerous parliamentary persons for whom politics were 
 chiefly a matter of social self-interest. Eegardless of 
 ceremonial decorations himself, he cared nothing who 
 had this Garter or that green ribband. His contemp- 
 tuous indifference weakened him ; for it drove important 
 nobodies to other ministers who would condescend to 
 listen to them ; and Newcastle, whose element this 
 thoroughly was, unfortunately was not Carteret's friend. 
 The whole herd of preferment hunters found it use- 
 less to apply to Carteret. He simply took no notice 
 of them. Two instances illustrate his not unnatural 
 but fatally imprudent indifference. In September 1742 
 the Duchess of Portland writes to Mrs. Dclany's sister, 
 Anne Granville, Carteret's own relation : —
 
 390 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 ' I went the Sunday before I came out of town to 
 the Arch-Dragon [Countess Granville, Carteret's mother] 
 by appointment, to know of her whether the report of 
 our friend's promotion was to be depended on ; and 
 after flattering her pretty sufficiently she told me she 
 knew nothing of the matter, that she believed there was 
 nothing in it, and that her son was never interested in 
 anybody's business, his whole mind being taken up in 
 doing good to the nation, and till the French w^as drove 
 out of Germany, and Prague was taken, he could not 
 think of such a bagatehe as that.' ^ Carteret was per- 
 fectly impartial in his indifference ; for the preferment 
 desired on this occasion was for a relation of his own. 
 
 Hoi-ace Walpole is the chronicler of the second in- 
 stance. When Granville became President of the Council 
 in 1751, Lord Chief Justice Willes was congratulated 
 on tlie return of his friend to Court. Willes replied : — 
 
 ' He my friend ? He is nobody's friend. I will give 
 you a proof. Sir Robert Walpole had promised me to 
 make my friend Chve one of the King's Council ; but 
 too late ! I asked him to request it of Mr. Pelham, 
 who promised but did not perform. When Lord Gran- 
 ville was in the height of his power, I one day said to 
 him. My Lord, you are going to the King ; do ask him 
 to make poor Clive one of his Council. He replied, 
 What is it to me who is a judge or who a bishop? It 
 is my business to make Kings and Emperors, and to 
 maintain the balance of Europe. Willes rephed. Then 
 they who want to be bishops and judges will apply to 
 those wdio will submit to make it their business.' - 
 
 Carteret even damaged his own private circum- 
 stances by his too contemptuous neglect of his own 
 
 ' Mrs. Delany, Autohiotjraplnj and Correspondence, II. 195. 
 2 11. Walpole's Lad Ten Years of Georye II., I. 140, 147.
 
 PRIVATE LIFE— PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 397 
 
 personal advantage. Scornful of money in public life, 
 he was carelessly indifferent to it in private. Shelburne 
 gives a curious and perhaps somewhat exaggerated 
 illustration of Carteret's blameworthy imprudence : — 
 
 ' Both he [Carteret] and Sir Robert Walpole were 
 above money, particularly the former. Lord Carteret 
 was more careless than extravagant. When his daugh- 
 ter Lady Georgiana was going to be married to Mr. 
 Spencer, much against the inclination of Sarah, Duchess 
 of Marlborough — with whom he had been in great 
 favour, but had lost it on some pohtical account — he 
 suffered the day to be fixed for signing the settlements 
 and solemnising the marriage without any thought how 
 he was to pay her fortune. His family, knowing that 
 he had not the money, was under vast uneasiness as 
 the day approached, and as far as they could venture, 
 reminded him of it, to no purpose, till the very day 
 before, Sir Eobert Worsley, Lady Carteret's father, 
 came to him, and, speaking of the marriage, said he 
 hoped he was prepared with Lady Georgiana's fortune, 
 because he knew the Duchess of Marlborough's violence 
 and her aversion to the marriage. He said undoubtedly 
 that it could not be supposed that he was unprepared. 
 " Because if you are," says Sir Robert Worsley, " I have 
 5,000/. at my bankers, with which I can accommodate 
 you." He said, " Can you really ? If so, I shall be 
 much obhged to you, for, to say the trutli, I liave not 
 a hundred pounds towards it." At one time lie had an 
 execution in his house, brought by a coal-merchant to 
 whom he owed two thousand pounds. His coach, etc., 
 Avas stopped. As soon as it was taken off, he saw a 
 man in the hall whose face he did not recollect. It 
 was the merchant. He went up to liim, made a ver\^
 
 398 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 gracious bow, and tlic man served hira to the day of 
 his death.' 
 
 Wliile Carteret, regardless of party or private con- 
 siderations, was thinking of the pohtics of Europe, the 
 Pelhams were thinking of the pohtics of the Cockpit. 
 The Pelhams were wise from their own small point of 
 view ; while Carteret's conduct was doubly imprudent ; 
 for his strengtli in the House of Commons was small, 
 apart from the assistance which the Pelhams might be 
 willincT to cfive him. For, over and above the weakness 
 which he mig^ht have avoided if he had condescended 
 to the usual arts of parliamentary management, if, as 
 Winnington said, he had studied parliament more and 
 Demosthenes less, Carteret had in the course of his lonof 
 career disadvantages in parliament for which he was in 
 no way personally responsible. He had never sat in 
 the House of Commons, and in the reig-n of George 11. 
 the House of Lords was no longer the clearly superior 
 House, as it had been when Carteret first entered par- 
 liament. He had also suffered serious losses near the 
 beirinnins: of his pul)lic life bv the deaths of liis 
 two friends Stanhope and Sunderland, his introducers 
 to active political work. These losses left Carteret, a 
 young man of thirty, with very little but his own genius 
 to help him, exposed to the jealous political enmity of 
 the masterful mmister who kept himself at the liead of 
 English affairs for twenty years. There is no need to 
 seek for or to invent explanations of Walpole's lifelong 
 opposition to Carteret. Friends and enemies alilie 
 recognised that Carteret was a man of indisputable 
 genius, of very great political ability, and of high-spirited 
 independence and individuality, That was quite enough 
 to make it impossible that lie and Walpole should long 
 act toj^ethcr. Careless and indifi'crent about most thiniis
 
 PRIVATE LIFE— PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 399 
 
 else, Walpole was terribly in earnest whenever it was a 
 question of his ow^n nndivided personal power. It is not 
 surprising that a man who quarrelled about pohtical 
 influence with a respectable mediocrity like Townshend 
 found it absolutely necessary to free himself from col- 
 leagues like Pulteney and Carteret. The striking thing, 
 in itself a very strong proof of the force of Carteret's 
 character and of his pre-eminence in politics, is the fact 
 that for nearly half of Walpole's long rule, from 1721 
 to 1730, Carteret was actually a member of Walpole's 
 Cabinet. Walpole could only get rid of Carteret after 
 an unremitting struggle of nearly ten years. 
 
 Parliamentary disadvantages continued to accom- 
 pany Carteret when lie himself succeeded to Walpole's 
 power. It was a time of general war, whicli had 
 been commenced and, as far as England's part in it 
 was concerned, hopelessly mismanaged before Carteret 
 became minister ; and, though he did all that one man 
 could do, he was thwarted by jealous colleagues who 
 shared neither his o-enius nor his knowded£je. His 
 ministry was divided and a compromise ; the Whig party 
 was in antagonistic sections. Absorbed by the war, 
 involved in foreign negotiations, mucli absent from 
 England, Carteret left the management of home and 
 domestic affairs too much to ministers who were de- 
 lighted to plot against him undisturbed by his presence. 
 He was practically Prime Minister and Foreign Minis- 
 ter ; it was not only natural but essential that during 
 his most anxious period of po^ver he should be mainly 
 occupied witli foreign affairs. Unfortunately this 
 allowed to treacherous colleagues almost unrestricted 
 scope for intrigue and easy opportunity for unbounded 
 public misrepresentation. Carteret was prolonging the 
 war for the sake of his own ambition ; for the sake of
 
 400 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 Hanover ; to gain the personal favour of the King ; lor 
 a hundred other reasons as perfectly false as these. 
 When one considers the small hold which Carteret had 
 on parliamentary support, the jealous intrigues of his 
 colleagues from the very beginning of his career, his 
 own careless neglect which naturally oiTended the self- 
 esteem of persons in important situations, and his 
 complete indifference to personal popularity, it is not 
 strange that the shoal of his enemies — his political 
 enemies, for he had no private ones — at times triumphed 
 over him, and made his political career a somewhat 
 chequered one. 
 
 But Carteret had other resources than politics. Un- 
 like Walpole, who, his son Horace says, ' loved not 
 reading nor writing,' Carteret was a highly educated 
 scholar and an instructed lover of literature. On the 
 political side his knowledge was very great and undis- 
 puted. He was intimately acquainted with the public 
 law of Europe and the internal laws of the various 
 European countries. The intricacies of the constitution 
 of the Empire were no mystery to him. His knowledge 
 of European history was equally profound, extending 
 even to obscure points usually left with cheerfulness to 
 the monopoly of the professional historian. Harte, 
 author of the life of Gustavus Adolphus, wrote in his 
 preface, after Carteret's death : ' It was my good fortune 
 or prudence to keep the main body of my army (or in 
 other words my matters of fact) safe and entire. Tlie 
 late Earl of Granville was pleased to declare himself 
 of this opinion ; especially when he found that I had 
 made Chemnitius one of my principal guides ; for his 
 Lordship was apprehensive I might not have seen that 
 valuable and authentic book, which is extremely scarce. 
 I thought myself happy to have contented his Lordship
 
 PRIVATE LIFE— PERSONAL CIIARACTEBISTICS 401 
 
 even in the lowest degree ; for he understood the Ger- 
 man and Swedish histories to the highest perfection.' 
 On the more strictly literary side Carteret had an extra- 
 ordinary acquaintance with languages, literatures, and 
 philosophy. It was of no consequence to him in wliat 
 language the foreign ministers might choose to send 
 their despatches, or in what language he himself might 
 reply to them. As Horace Walpole called him ' master 
 of all modern politics,' so Chesterfield called him ' master 
 of all the modern languages.' French or Italian, Spanish 
 or Portuguese, German or Swedish ; it was indifferent 
 to him which he wrote and which he spoke. He even 
 turned his attention to the Sclavonian languages and 
 literatures. With the classical languages he also had 
 an easy familiarity. Swift, whom Carteret himself 
 once silenced with a quotation from Virgil, with grave 
 irony says of him that he had a 'fatal turn of mind 
 toward heathenish and outlandish books and lano-ua^es. 
 ... It is known, and can be proved upon him, that 
 Greek and Latin books might be found every day in his 
 dressing-room, if it were carefully searched. ... I am 
 likewise assured that he has been taken in the very fact 
 of reading the said books, even in the midst of a session, 
 to the great neglect of public affairs. ... I have it 
 from good hands, that when his Excellency is at dinner 
 with one or two scholars at his elbows, he grows a most in- 
 supportable and unintelligible companion to all the fine 
 gentlemen round the table. ... I am credibly informed 
 he will, as I have already hinted, in the middle of a 
 session quote passages out of Plato and Pindar at his 
 own table to some book-learned companion, without 
 blushing, even when persons of great stations are by.' ^ 
 Carteret's reputation as a Greek scliolar was espe- 
 
 • Swift, Works, \ll. 285-301. 
 
 D D
 
 402 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 ciallv hiijli. He had taken his love of Greek witli liini 
 iVom Oxford to Denmark and to Ireland, and he kept it 
 throughout his life, quoting Homer on his death-bed 
 He wrote of his son to Swift : ' I tell him, study Greek, 
 /cat ovhev ovSenore Taireivov euOvix-qOijcrr) ovre dyav im- 
 Ovix-qcreLs rtvo?. He knows how to construe this, and I 
 have the satisfaction to believe he will fall into the 
 sentiment ; and then, if he makes no figure, he will yet 
 be a happy man.' ^ Homer and Demosthenes were 
 Carteret's two favourite Greek authors. An Enquiry 
 into the Life and Writings of Homer, which appeared in 
 London in 1735, was assumed, tliough incorrectly, to 
 be his. In 1732 he encouraged his friend Bentley to 
 undertake an edition of Homer which Bentley had 
 meditated six years before. Carteret personally assisted 
 by borrowing for Bentley all the manuscripts which he 
 was able to procure ; some of them from his old Christ 
 Church friend, Mr. Harley, now second Earl of Oxford. 
 Carteret wrote to Oxford in Auixust 1732 : — 
 
 ' Having heard that your lordship has several curious 
 manuscripts of Homer, I take the liberty to acquaint 
 you that Dr. Bentley has lately revised the whole works 
 of Homer, whicli are now ready for the press, with his 
 notes, some of which I have seen, and are very curious ; 
 and he desires leave to collate your manuscripts upon 
 some suspected verses in our present editions. If your 
 lordship will be pleased to let the Doctor have the manu- 
 scripts for a short time for that purpose, I shall be 
 obliged to you. I have set the Doctor at work, and 
 would be glad to procure such assistance as he desires, 
 that he may have no excuse not to proceed. If your 
 lordship has no objection to this request, you will let 
 him have tlie manuscripts to be perused at Cambridge, 
 
 1 Swift, Worli^, XIX. 50. March 24, 1737.
 
 PBIVATE LIFE— PERSONAL CHABACTEBISTICS 403 
 
 upon his application to you, I desire the honour of an 
 answer, that I may acquaint tlie Doctor with it. As you 
 are a known encourager of learning, and learned your- 
 self, I hope this request will not be disagreeable to you.' 
 
 And again in March 1733 :— 
 
 ' I tliank your lordship for your great goodness in 
 sending me the eleven manuscripts of Homer and re- 
 lating to him, and for your permitting me to send them 
 to Dr. Bentley. I shall take his receipt for you, and I am 
 persuaded he will take great care of them ; they shall 
 be returned to your lordship with thanks and honour- 
 able mention of you.' ^ 
 
 Of Carteret and Bentley — whose Homer was never 
 published — there is a curious anecdote : — 
 
 ' Dr. Bentley, when he came to town, was accus- 
 tomed, in his visits to Lord Carteret, sometimes to spend 
 the evenings witli his lordship. One day old Lady 
 Granville reproached her son with keeping the country 
 clergyman who was with him the night before till he was 
 intoxicated. Lord Carteret denied the charge ; upon 
 which the lady repHed that the clergyman could not 
 have sung in so ridiculous a manner unless he had been 
 in liquor. The truth of the case was, that the singing 
 thus mistaken by her ladyship was Dr. Bentley's endea- 
 vour to instruct and entertain his noble friend by reciting 
 Terence accordino- to the true cantileng;a of the ancients.' ^ 
 
 Of a less-known scholar than Bentley, Dr. John 
 Taylor, commonly called Demosthenes Taylor, Carteret 
 was the special patron. Taylor — who is vaguely remem- 
 bered as ' the most silent man, the merest statue of a 
 man,' whom Johnson ever met, the man who, dining 
 once in Johnson's company, distinguished himself by 
 
 1 Brit. Mu3. llarleian MSS. 7,523; fol. 175-177. 
 - Monk's Bcntlei/, 589. 
 
 D D 2
 
 404 LORD CARTERET 
 
 uttering in the course of the dinner the one word 
 ' Richard ' — produced an edition of Demosthenes ; and 
 Carteret, who had specially studied that author and had 
 much of him by heart, helped Taylor in his work with 
 books and abundant counsel. Taylor was particularly 
 sorry that he could not use for his book some of the 
 manuscripts in the Eoyal Library at Vienna. Carteret 
 applied to Maria Theresa, for whom he had done so 
 much, and got Taylor what he wanted. He gave Taylor 
 other practical help. In 1757 he secured for him the 
 Eesidentiaryship of St. Paul's. When Carteret asked 
 the King for this, George demurred. He had never, he 
 said, heard of Taylor ; the preferment was a valuable 
 one, and should be given to a scholar of reputation. 
 With quiet quickness Carteret replied that Taylor's 
 scholarship was famous throughout Germany. There 
 was no need to say more to George H. 
 
 Taylor was entrusted by Carteret with the education 
 of his grandsons. Lord Weymouth and the Hon. Henry 
 Frederick Thynne. Carteret himself laid down the 
 plan and methods of their education ; with complete 
 remembrance, says Taylor, of the answer of the old 
 Greek, who, when asked what he desired his chil- 
 dren to be taught, replied, ravr, etneu, ols /cat dvSpes 
 yeuofJievoL ')(p'iqcrovrai. 
 
 Demosthenes was the subject of a German letter 
 written by Carteret to a clerical friend of literary tastes. 
 That an English politician of the nineteenth century 
 should write to his friends in German would call for no 
 special notice ; but in 1736 things were dilTerent. The 
 King of England was a German, but German was an 
 unknown language to his English subjects. Carteret 
 was the only Englishman who could speak German with 
 the King ; it may safely be stated that no leading
 
 PBIVATE LIFE—PEBSONAL CHABACTEBISTICS 405 
 
 English statesman except Carteret could have read six 
 consecutive words of German. A German letter of 
 Carteret's may therefore be quoted, if for no other 
 reason than that Carteret was the only prominent 
 English politician who could have written one. In 
 1736, and in the orthography of the day, Carteret wrote 
 to the Eev. Mr. Wetstein, rector of Helmingham, 
 Ipswich : — 
 
 ' LiEEER VON Helmingham, — Die schone ubersetzuner 
 von Griechischer beredsamkeit, so er mir geschict hat, 
 erfordert von mir alle ersinnliche erkentlichkeit. Ich 
 sehe mit verwunderung der Alten spur ; und dass 
 Teutsch so von Ihrem feder fliesset, der weitlaufigen 
 und gewaltigen Griechischen Schriebart sehr nahe 
 kommt. Es ist gewiss dass der Eedner hat nicht so viel 
 verlohren als in der Francosischen ubersetzung. Tourreil 
 war ein gelehrter und geschichter man. Er verstunde, 
 wie seine anmerkungen bezeugen, dess Eedners innerste 
 meinung, aber die Francosische sprache ist allzu schwach 
 und unterliegt, wan Demostenis wichtige und strahlende 
 gedancken mit durchdringender macht fortkommen 
 solten. Ich sehe und flihle dass ihr Teutsch ist fahig, 
 das alte Griechische feuer anzuzunden, welches in die 
 andern ubersetzungen so Ich gesehen habe ist gantz 
 ausgeloscht. Ich wunsche ihnen alles gluck in dieser 
 ehrhchen bemuhung, und bitte erlaubniss meinen brief 
 mit einer Schweitzerischen wahrsagung zu enden, welche 
 Ich in Schweitzerischen gedicten gelesen habe — 
 
 Die Tugend wird dir selber geben 
 Was gutes Ich dir wunschen kan. 
 
 ' Ich verbleibe, Ihr Eyfriger Schuler und Diener, 
 
 ' Caeteret.' ^ 
 
 ' Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 32,415; fol. 341. April 14, 1736.
 
 406 LORD CARTERET 
 
 However much engrossed he might be in pubhc 
 affairs, Carteret always had time for the claims of 
 learning and literature : — 
 
 Who that can hear him, and on business, speak, 
 Would dream he lunch 'd with Bentley upon Greek, 
 And will to-night with Hutcheson regale on 
 The feast of Reason in the tougfh To Kalon ? ' 
 
 'o 
 
 In the midst of his Swedish negotiations he visited 
 Upsala University, and delighted in the society of its 
 learned men. They also were delighted with him, and 
 Carteret kept up pleasant relations with them and their 
 University in later years. While harassed in Dublin by 
 the unhappy coinage scheme, he took considerable 
 trouble to find out the moral philosopher Hutcheson, 
 whose anonymously published Liquiry into the Original 
 of our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue had interested him. 
 Carteret astonished Hutcheson by his acquaintance with 
 pliilosophical thought as much as he delighted him by 
 the intimacy of his friendslup. Indeed, to have any- 
 thing like a tincture of scholarship or literature was 
 sufficient to gain Carteret's favour. Many a strugghng 
 writer received from him not merely empty and easy 
 patronage, but effective help. His treatment of an ob- 
 scure writer, one CI eland, son of the Colonel Cleland 
 who sat for the Will Honeycomb of the Spectator, is 
 thoroughly characteristic of Carteret. Cleland, not the 
 most respectable of characters, found himself in trouble 
 before the Privy Council for the nature of one of his 
 publications. He pleaded poverty, and the truth of his 
 plea was painfully evident. Carteret, when Cleland pro- 
 mised never again to have anything to do with literary 
 ventures of that doubtful kind, obtained liim a pension 
 
 ^ Lord Lyttou's >S'^ Stephen's.
 
 PRIVATE LIFE— PERSONAL CHABACTEBISTICS 407 
 
 of a hundred a year ; on which the unfortunate man 
 afterwards mainly hved, doing miscellaneous writing, 
 and faithfully keeping his promise. 
 
 The names of many of those who in their day were 
 grateful for Carteret's assistance have long since been 
 forgotten by posterity. The glimpses to be obtained 
 of Carteret's connection with literary names not likely 
 to pass into such rapid oblivion are tantalisingly super- 
 ficial. There is no positive evidence that Carteret knew 
 Voltaire ; but it is probable that they had met, 
 for Voltaire was in England from May 1726 till the 
 early months of 1729, and Carteret was in London every 
 year of his Irish Lord-Lieutenancy. Swift also was in 
 London in 1726 and 1727 ; and it is not likely that 
 Swift would have left Voltaire and Carteret unknown 
 to each other. Voltaire got his Henriade printed in 
 London in a very cheerfid pecuniary manner, and sent 
 an early copy of it to Carteret in Dublin. ' I sent the 
 other day a cargo of French dulness to my Lord-Lieu- 
 tenant,' Voltaire wrote to Swift in 1727. No doubt he 
 knew the man to whom he sent his superlative epic. 
 With the early work of another young author Carteret 
 was also acquainted. In 1761, Gibbon, then aged 
 twenty-four, publislied his French Essai sur I' Etude de la 
 LitUrature. Mallet wrote to Gibbon in June 1761 : 'I 
 found Lord Granville reading you, after ten at night. 
 His single approbation, which he assures you of, will 
 go for more than that of a hundred other readers.' 
 Addison was another of Carteret's friends, though 
 Carteret was not yet thirty when in 1719 Addison died. 
 From Stockholm, Carteret wrote home to Craggs in 
 December of that year : ' I had so true a friendship for 
 Mr. Addison, and shall always retain so great respect 
 for his memory, that I shall do my best to procure sub-
 
 408 LORD CARTERET 
 
 scriptions for his Works, not only from Her Majesty 
 and the Prince, but from the most distinguished persons 
 in Sweden.' Gray, too, had pleasant intercourse with 
 Carteret. The Beggar's Opera had been produced in 
 1728 in London, and Carteret and Swift had enjoyed it 
 in Dublin. 'We have your opera for sixpence,' Swift 
 wrote to Gay, ' and we are as full of it pro modulo 
 nostro as London can be ; continually acting, and 
 house crammed, and the Lord-Lieutenant several times 
 there laughing his heart out.' ^ When Carteret's 
 Lord-Lieutenancy was over, he became personally 
 acquainted with Gay. From Amesbury, the seat of 
 the Duke and Duchess of Queensberry, Gay wrote to 
 Swift :— 
 
 ' Lord Carteret was here yesterday, in his return 
 from the Isle of Wio;ht, where he had been a-shootino- 
 and left seven pheasants with us. He went this morn- 
 ing to the Bath, to Lady Carteret, who is perfectly 
 recovered. He talked of you tliree hours last night, 
 and told me that you talk of me : I mean, that you are 
 prodigiously in his favour, as lie says .... He seemed 
 to take to me, which may proceed from your recom- 
 mendation ; though, indeed, there is another reason for 
 it, for he is now out of employment, and my friends 
 have been generally of that sort, for I take to them, 
 as being naturally inclined to those who can do no 
 mischief.' ^ 
 
 Pope also was remembered in the conversations 
 between Carteret and Swift in Dublin. No details re- 
 main of the intimacy between Carteret and Pope; 
 foolish anecdote poorly fills up the blank by trying 
 to believe that they once passed a whole evening to- 
 
 > Elwin's Pope, VII. 125. March 28, 1728. 
 2 Swift, Worhs, XVII. ai5, 31G. Nov. 7, 1730.
 
 PRIVATE LIFE— PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 409 
 
 gether in debating whether one should say Cicero or 
 Kikero : — 
 
 To sound or sink in Cajio, or A, 
 Or give up Cicero to C or K.^ 
 
 But Carteret's greatest friend was Swift himself. 
 Their early intimacy and the renewal of their friendship 
 in Ireland have already been sufficiently dwelt upon. 
 They never saw each other again after Carteret left 
 Dublin in 1730 ; for Swift, though invitations from the 
 Carterets were not wanting, never revisited England 
 after the death of Stella. The friendship thenceforth 
 was continued by correspondence, of which the existing 
 printed part is probably only a very meagre portion. 
 In 1734 Carteret wrote to Swift : — 
 
 ' I had the honour of your letter, which gave me a 
 considerable pleasure to see that I am not so much out 
 of your thoughts, but that you can take notice of events 
 that happen in my family. I need not say that these 
 alliances [the marriages of his daughters] are very 
 agreeable to me ; but tliat they are so to my friends 
 adds much to the satisfaction I receive from them. 
 Tliey certainly enable me to contract my desires, which 
 is no inconsiderable step towards being happy. As 
 to otlier things, I go on as w^ell as I can ; and now 
 and then observe that I have more friends now than I 
 liad when I was in a situation to do them service. This 
 may be a delusion; however, it is a pleasing one. And 
 I have more reason to believe a man, now I can do him 
 no good, than I had when I could do him favours, 
 Avhicli the greatest pliilosophers are sometimes tempted 
 to solicit their friends about. . . . Lady Worsley. my 
 wife, and daughters, to whom I have showai your letter, 
 
 1 Ihuuiad, IV. 221.
 
 410 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 not forgetting my mother, present their humble service 
 to you. And I desire to recommend the whole family, 
 as well as myself, to the continuance of your favour.' ^ 
 Ai^ain in 1735 : — 
 
 ' I thank you for taking notice of the prosperous 
 events that have happened to my family. If alliance 
 and the thoughts of prosperity can bind a man to the 
 interest of his country, I am certainly bound to stand 
 by liberty ; and when you see me forgetful of that, may 
 you treat me like Traulus and Pistorides.^ I am im- 
 patient for four volumes, said to be your works, for 
 which my wife and I have subscribed; and we expected 
 a dozen of copies from Mr. Tickell last packet. I in- 
 tend these works shall be the first foundation of the 
 libraries of my three grandsons. In the meantime they 
 will be studied by my son and sons-in-law. . . . Sir, 
 that you may enjoy the continuance of all happiness is 
 my wish ; as for futurity, I know your name will be 
 remembered, when the names of Kings, Lord-Lieutenants, 
 Archbishops, and parliament politicians will be forgotten ; 
 at last, you yourself must fall into oblivion, which may 
 happen in less than a thousand years, though the term 
 may be uncertain, and will depend on the progress 
 that barbarity and ignorance may make, notwithstand- 
 ing the sedulous endeavours to the contrary of the 
 great prelates in this and succeeding ages. My wife, 
 my mother, my mother-in-law, my etc., etc., etc. all join 
 with me in good wishes to you.' ^ 
 
 Once more, two years later: — 
 
 ' Your late Lord-Lieutenant [Duke of Dorset] told 
 
 1 Swift, Works, XVIII. 208, 209. April 13, 1734. 
 ^ Lord Allen and Rich. Tighe, whom Swift had satirised while Carteret 
 was Lord-Lieutenant. 
 
 3 Swift, Works, XVII. 277-279. March 6, 1735.
 
 PRIVATE LIFE— PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 411 
 
 me, some time ago, he thought he was not in j^our 
 favour. I told him I was of that opinion, and showed 
 him the article of your letter relating to himself. I 
 believe I did wrong ; not that you care a farthing for 
 Princes or ministers, but because it was vanity in me 
 to produce your acknowledgments to me for providing 
 for people of learning, some of which I had the honour 
 to promote at your desire, for which I still think myself 
 obliged to you. And I have not heard that since they 
 have disturbed the peace of the kingdom, or been 
 Jacobites, in disgrace to you and me. 
 
 ' I desire you will make my sincere respects acceptable 
 to Mr. Delany. He sent me potted woodcocks in per- 
 fection, which Lady Granville, my wife and children, 
 have eat ; though 1 have not yet answered his letter. My 
 Lady Granville, reading your postscript, bids me tell 
 you that she will send you a present ; and if she knew 
 what you liked, she would do it forthwith. Let me 
 know, and it shall be done, that the first of the family 
 may no longer be postponed by you to the third place. 
 My wife and Lady Worsley desire their respects should 
 be mentioned to you rlietorically ; but as I am a plain 
 peer, I shall say nothing but tliat 
 ' I am, for ever. Sir, 
 
 * Your most humble and obedient servant, 
 
 ' Carteret.' ^ 
 
 It is liardly possible that a reall}^ satisfactory life of 
 Carteret should ever now be written. It is more than a 
 luindred and twenty years since he died, after an active 
 political life that extended over more than half a cen- 
 tury ; but he found no Boswell among his own contem- 
 l^oraries, and, witli a really curious indifference to tlie 
 brilliancy of his political career and to the charm of 
 
 ' Swift, IForks, XIX. 50, 51. March 24, 17'i7.
 
 412 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 his personal gifts and character, posterity has been con- 
 tent to drop liim from its memory. Not quite so 
 entirely, indeed, as it has dropped its iinrememberable 
 Hardwickes and Harringtons; in an uneasy sort of way 
 posterity sometimes vaguely wonders why it does not 
 know more of Carteret. But this merely nominal and 
 unintelligent remembrance has itself been a misfortune. 
 For if the man of genius was not to be remembered 
 witli true and full knowledge, it was a double wrong 
 that an unintelligible and impossible figure should be 
 set up to play fantastic tricks in the records of English 
 history, and that this should gravely be declared to be 
 the fissure of Lord Carteret. For the Lord Carteret of 
 the Enghsh historian is a fantastic impossibility. At 
 once a great statesman and a mere bombastic fanatic ; 
 a great genius and an insincere trifler ; an unrivalled 
 scholar and a frivolous farceur and consumer of Bur- 
 gundy ; a despiser of stars and places and money, and 
 a selfish place-hunter, content that the country should 
 go to ruin if only he might cling to office. That figure 
 is in a word incredible and impossible. It may not now, 
 after so long a lapse of time, be possible to substitute a 
 completely satisfactory portrait in place of the absurdly 
 exaggerated and distorted one. But at least it is pos- 
 sible to look without prejudice at the not inconsiderable 
 body of first-hand evidence which remains, and to refuse 
 credence to most of the facile and self-contradicting 
 criticism of the many writers who, after all, on this 
 subject are not many voices, but only many echoes. 
 Carteret suffered enough from self-interested misrepre- 
 sentation during his own lifetime. No one can have any 
 interest in misknowin^ him now ; no one now can find 
 any profit or satisfaction in ])laming or praising him 
 unduly. Posterity's sole interest in ]iim, if it has any
 
 PRIVATE LIFE— PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS 413 
 
 interest at all, is simply to know what his career and 
 character really were ; to extricate them from the 
 chaotic contradictions of political partisanship, as well as 
 from the easy negligence and echoing repetitions of 
 writers who would not knowingly misrepresent, but who 
 have not cared to examine at first-hand for themselves. 
 Let it be granted that Carteret had faults and committed 
 mistakes ; he paid dearly enough for them in his own 
 lifetime, and they were hardly of the kind to merit the 
 reproof of posterity. He made the mistake of despising 
 political jobbery, of refusing to flatter influential im- 
 becility, of scornfully neglecting the greedy crowd of 
 place-hunters and pensioners and fawning flatterers, 
 who thronged a corrupt Court and revelled in a corrupt 
 society. Carteret neglected all that ; and in the days of 
 George II. it was impossible to neglect it with impunity. 
 He paid for it in his own lifetime by seeing power fall 
 to those who would take the mean and customary ways 
 of obtaining it. It is a pity that he should continue to 
 pay for it still. The motto of the noble house of which 
 Carteret was the most distinguished member must itself 
 appeal to the inquirer who ventures to examine Car- 
 teret's career for himself ; for his examination will not 
 have led him far before he discovers that to know what 
 can be known and to tell what can be told of such 
 a statesman and genius as Carteret is indeed Loyal 
 Devoir.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ADD 
 
 ADDISON, becomes Secretary of 
 State, 25 ; remark of Carteret 
 on, 387, 388 ; Carteret's friend- 
 ship for, 407, 408 
 
 ALremberg, Diike d', his early 
 dmner-hom-, 256 ; on bad terms 
 with Stair, 205 ; m London, 
 296 ; in Flanders, 299 
 
 Aislabie, Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer, sent to the Tower, 05 
 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, Congress of, 325 ; 
 Treaty of, id. 
 
 Alberoni, 31, 71 ; assists the Jacob- 
 ites, 38 ; disgraced, 39 ; quoted, 
 69 
 
 Almon, contradicts false story of 
 Carteret and Pitt, 360, 301 
 
 Alsace, invaded by the Austrians, 
 299 
 
 America, Spanish claims on, 201 ; 
 limited Em-opean trade with, 
 202 
 
 Andi'ie, Prussian ambassador to 
 England, gives Carteret message 
 from Frederick, 249 
 
 Anne, Queen, 23 ; death of, 25 
 
 Anson, Admiral, 222 
 
 Argjde, Duke of, opposes Walpole's 
 Spanish policy, 214, 215, 223, 
 226 ; remark of George II. on, 
 239 ; becomes War Minister, 
 241 ; his dissatisfaction, 242 ; 
 resigns, 243 ; attacks Carteret, 
 244, 258 
 
 Ai-nold, Matthew, quoted, 364?i 
 
 Aschaffenberg, Stair and the En- 
 glish allies at, 205 ; letter of 
 Carteret from, 260 
 
 BEN 
 
 Atterbury, at Westminster School, 
 
 14 ; his Jacobite plot, 79 
 August, King of Poland, 36, 191 
 
 BARRINGTON, Lord, on the 
 Government dm-ing the Seven 
 Years' War, 353 
 
 Bassewitz, 41, 42, 51 
 
 Bath, Earl of. See Granville, Sir 
 John 
 
 Bath, Earl of. See Pulteney 
 
 Battles, Chotusitz, 249 ; Czaslau, 
 id. ; Falkirk, 318 ; Fontenoy, 
 316 ; Lansdowne, 12 ; Malpla- 
 quet, 15 ; Messina, 71 ; Moll- 
 witz, 230 ; Pultowa, 37 ; South- 
 wold Bay, 10 
 
 Bavaria, Elector of, candidate for 
 the Empu-e, 232 ; becomes Em- 
 peror, 245 
 
 Bedford, Duke of, Lord-Lieu- 
 tenant of Ireland, 131; joins 
 Pelham's Government, 309 ; 
 Newcastle's schemes against, 
 326 ; resigns, 329 ; negotiates 
 with France va the Seven Years' 
 War, 361 
 
 Beggar's Opera, produced, 408 
 
 Belleisle, Coimt of, his designs on 
 Germany, 247 
 
 Bentmck, Earl of, on Carteret's 
 foreign policy, 250, 251 ; on 
 Wade, 300 
 
 Bentloy, Dr., becomes Master of 
 Trinity, 14 ; his quarrels with 
 the Fellows, 386 ; encouraged 
 by Carteret to edit Homer, 
 402, 403 ; anecdote of, 403
 
 416 
 
 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 BER 
 
 Beranger, quoted, 152 
 
 Berkeley, Bishop, 16 
 
 Bernsdorf, 35, 52 
 
 Berwick, Marshal, 192 ; killed, 
 196 
 
 Bolingbroke, Lord, 15 ; Carteret 
 dines with, 17 ; joins the Go- 
 vernment, 18 ; resigns, 19 ; 
 returns to power, 20 ; friendship 
 with Swft and Carteret, 17 ; 
 inchnes to the Jacobites, 23 ; 
 rivalry with Harley, 23, 25 ; 
 ruined by Queen Anne's death, 
 25 ; in opposition to Walpole, 
 161 ; Queen Caroline on, 166 
 
 Bolton, Earl of, 168 
 
 Boswell, anecdote of Carteret by, 
 269, 270 
 
 Bothmar, 84 
 
 Boulter, Hugh, Primate of Ireland, 
 125 ; advises withdrawal of 
 Wood's patent, 126, 128; his 
 policy towards Ireland, 129, 
 130 ; on Carteret's Lord-Lieu- 
 tenancy, 132, 133 
 
 Bourbon, Duke of, becomes French 
 Regent, 100 ; declines a Spanish 
 mamage for Louis XV., 148; 
 fall of, 151 
 
 Braddock, General, defeat of, in 
 America, 339 
 
 Breda, Congress of, 323 
 
 Bremen, acquired by George I., 
 37 ; formally yielded by Sweden, 
 51, 52 
 
 Breslau, Treaty of, 250, 314 
 
 Brest, French Expedition from, 
 295 
 
 Breton, Cape, acquired by Eng- 
 land, 320 
 
 Broad-Bottom, Government on, 
 242, 308 
 
 Brodrick, Alan. See Midleton 
 
 Brodrick, Mr., 105, 106, 107, 111 
 
 Brodrick, St. John, 112 
 
 Burke, on Jenkins' ear, 206 
 
 Bute, Earl of, character, 355 ; 
 Secretary of State, 356 ; desires 
 to end the Seven Years' War, 
 361 ; Prime Minister, id. ; makes 
 Peace of Paris, 362 
 
 Byng, Sir George, Admiral, des- 
 troys Spanish fleet at Messina, 
 71 
 
 CAR 
 
 Byng, John, Admiral, fails to re- 
 lieve Minorca, 343 
 
 CALENDAR, reform of the, New- 
 castle's dread of, 310 
 
 Cambrai, Congress of, 72; great 
 difficulties in its way, 75-79 ; 
 meets at last, 79; its fiitDity, 
 147 ; collapse of, 149 
 
 Campredon, French minister at 
 Stockholm, 53 
 
 Carlisle, Lord, awkward position 
 of, 319, 320 
 
 Carlos, Don, his claim to Italian 
 Duchies, 69, 77 ; rumoiu- of his 
 possible marriage with Maria 
 Theresa, 150 ; secm-es the 
 Duchies, 154, 157; declared 
 King of Naples and Sicily, 196 
 
 Carlyle, Thomas, on Carteret's 
 diplomacy, 56; on Carteret as 
 Foreign Minister, vii. ; on Car- 
 teret's policy, 277 ; his mistake 
 about Carteret, 359 {and note) 
 
 Carohne, Queen, wife of George 
 II., her support of Walpole, 158, 
 165 ; criticism of Carteret and 
 Bohngbroke, 166 ; inchnes to- 
 wards Carteret, 182-184 ; her 
 quarrel with the Prince of 
 Wales, 180, 186 ; death, 189 
 
 Cartagena, failure of English 
 attack on, 234 
 
 Carteret, Lady Anne, befriends 
 Prynne, 2, 3 
 
 Carteret, Lady Frances, first wife 
 of Lord Carteret, marriage, 17 ; 
 early friendship witli Swift, id. ; 
 renewed friendshiji with Swift 
 in Ireland, 137, 138; Swift's 
 verses on, 370 ; Swift on her 
 beauty, 371 ; with Carteret to 
 Hanover, 372 ; death, 373 
 
 Carteret, Lady Frances, daughter 
 of Lord Carteret, marriage to 
 Marquis of Tweeddale, 373 ; her 
 musical abilities, 374 ; her direc- 
 tions for her burial, id. 
 
 Carteret, Lad3'Georgiana,marriage 
 to Hon. J. Spencer, 372 ; second 
 marriage to Earl Cowper, id. ; 
 on the Granville blood, 392 
 
 Carteret, Lady Grace, marriage 
 to Earl of Dysart, 371
 
 INDEX 
 
 417 
 
 CAR 
 
 Carteret, Lady Louisa, marriage 
 to Viscount Weymouth, 371 
 
 Carteret, Sir George, raises forces 
 against the Parhament, 3 ; re- 
 ceives the Prince of Wales in 
 Jersey, 4 ; intiinacy with Lord 
 Clarendon, 4-5 ; proclaims King 
 Charles II. in the Chaimel 
 Islands, 5 ; Treasurer of the 
 Navy, 7 ; kindness to Pepys, id. 
 
 Carteret, Sir Philip, 8 ; Pepys' 
 account of his marriage, 8-10 
 
 CARTEIJET, Lord, birth, 13 ; at 
 Westminster School, 14 ; at 
 Christ Church, 15 ; Swift on his 
 Oxford life, 16 ; early fi-iend- 
 shiji with Swift, id. ; and with 
 Bolingbroke, 17, 20 ; marries 
 LadyFrancesWorsley, 17; takes 
 seat in Lords, 18 ; joins the 
 Whigs, 21 ; early connection 
 with Stanhope and Sunderland, 
 21 ; supports the cause of tlie 
 Protestant Succession, 22, 25 ; 
 made Lord-Lieutenant of De- 
 vonshire, 25 ; supports the 
 House of Hanover, 2G ; supports 
 Septennial Act, 27-28 ; early 
 interest in foreign politics, id. ; 
 made ambassador extraordinary 
 to Sweden, 39 ; at Gothenburg 
 and Stockholm, 40 ; fi'iendship 
 with the Queen and Prince of 
 Sweden, 40, 49 ; diplomatic 
 difticulties, 42-45 ; secures pre- 
 limmary Convention for peace 
 between England and Sweden, 
 42 ; and between Prussia and 
 Sweden, 48 ; popularity in Swe- 
 den, 50 ; persuades Sweden to 
 treat with Denmark, 51 ; secures 
 final treaty between Sweden 
 and England, 55 ; and between 
 Sweden and Prussia, 5G ; ar- 
 ranges armistice between Swe- 
 den and Denmark, 51 ; and 
 final peace, 61 ; leaves Sweden, 
 id. ; at Fredericksl^urg and Co- 
 penhagen with the King of 
 Denmark, 61-63 ; returns to 
 pjugland, 64 ; made Secretary of 
 State for the Southern Depart- 
 ment, 66 ; his foreign policy, 
 72 ; refuses to cede Gibraltar, 
 
 CAR 
 
 77 ; to Hanover with the King 
 and Townshend, 79 ; Walpole's 
 jealousy of, 81 ; knows his own 
 danger, 82 ; visit to Berlin, 85 ; 
 opposed at Hanover bj^ Towns- 
 hend, 87 ; his favour with the 
 King, 88 ; his influence in 
 France, 89 ; plotted against in 
 France by Walpole and Towns- 
 hend, 94, 95 ; suspicious of his 
 colleagues, 97 ; success of Wal- 
 pole's plot against, 100 ; made 
 Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, 
 101 ; declines to quarrel with 
 Walpole and Townshend, 102 ; 
 arrives in Dublin, 116 ; connec- 
 tion with the Irish coinage 
 question, 111-112; early ad- 
 vises cancelling Wood's patent, 
 113 ; Newcastle's treachery to, 
 114 ; forced to issue proclama- 
 tion against Swift, 120 ; strange 
 scene with Swift, 120-121; re- 
 news advice of ending Wood's 
 jiatent, 125, 127 ; announces 
 that it is cancelled, 128 ; his 
 difficult position in Ireland, 
 130-131; on the Irish Parlia- 
 ment, 131 ; impartiality in Ire- 
 land, 132 ; great popularity 
 there, 133 ; correspondence with 
 Swift in Ireland, 133-137 ; re- 
 newed friendship with Swift, 
 141-145 ; intimacy with Dr. 
 Sheridan, 141-142 ; opposes 
 French designs in Germany, 155 ; 
 attempts agreement with Wal- 
 pole, 161 ; joins the opposition 
 against him, 163 ; Queen Caro- 
 line on, 166 ; his fairness in op- 
 position, 169, 219 ; parliamen- 
 tarj- action in the Porteous case, 
 172-176 ; relations with Queen 
 Caroline, 182-184, 186-189 ; on 
 Walpole's foreign policj', 198- 
 199 ; on AValpole's good-luck, 
 200 ; attacks Walpole's Spanish 
 policy, 207, 208, 210, 213-215 ; 
 desires alliance with Prussia, 
 218 ; leads great party debate 
 against Walpole, 223-225 ; sup- 
 ports cause of Maria Theresa, 
 229-230. 235 : negotiated with, 
 after fall of Walpole, 239-240 ; 
 
 EE
 
 418 
 
 LORD CARTERET 
 
 CAR 
 
 becomes Secretary of State, 
 •i-il ; his foreign policy, 246- 
 247 ; on character of Frederick 
 the Great, 248 ; brings about 
 peace between Frederick and 
 Maria Theresa, 250 ; his great 
 popularity, id. ; anxious to help 
 Maria Theresa, 251 ; and to get 
 the French out of the Empire, 
 254 ; goes to the Hague, 255 ; 
 success there, id. ; attacked by 
 disappointed politicians, 257- 
 258 ; on his French policy, 2G1 ; 
 goes again to the Hague, 204 ; 
 at Aschaffenljerg, 266 ; his des- 
 patch on the battle of Dettin- 
 gen, 269 ; his jiolicy towards 
 tlie Emperor, 271-273 ; sepa- 
 rates him from the French, 
 274 ; his plans ruined by the 
 ministers at home. 275 ; secures 
 treaty between Maria Theresa 
 and Sardinia, 279 ; differences 
 with the Pelhams, 280-284; 
 returns to England, 284 ; suc- 
 cess of his foreign policy, 285- 
 286 ; violently attacked by Pitt, 
 286, 288, 290, 292; threatened 
 by 'Wat Tyler,' 291 ; continued 
 opposition to France, 294 ; dif- 
 ficulties in his Government, 
 296-298 ; misrepresented, 301 ; 
 supported by the King, 302, 
 304 ; forced to resign, 305 ; be- 
 comes Earl Granville, 307 ; 
 attacked again by Pitt, 314 ; re- 
 appointed Chief Secretary of 
 State, 319 ; resigns, 320 ; refuses 
 Lord-Lieutenanc.y of Ireland, 
 327 ; becomes Lord-President 
 of the Council in Pelham's 
 Government, 329 ; on Fox, 
 338 : his advice before outbreak 
 of the Seven Years' War, 340 ; 
 declines to become Prime Minis- 
 ter, 341 ; negotiates between 
 Fox and Newcastle, 342 ; takes 
 Fox's resignation to the Kmg, 
 345 ; rebukes Fox, 346 ; again 
 refuses to become Prune IMinis- 
 ter, 348 ; secures Pitt to the 
 Duke of Devonshire's Govern- 
 ment, 349 ; on Pitt, 350 ; on 
 Hardwicke, 354- 355 ; on I'itt'a 
 
 CIIA 
 
 French negotiations, 356, 358 ; 
 speech on Pitt's resignation 
 falsely assigned to, 359 ; his 
 real opinion of Pitt, 360-361 ; 
 advocates war with Spain, 361 ; 
 failing health, 363 ; quotes 
 Homer on his death-bed, 364 ; 
 death, 365 ; happy private life, 
 366 ; marriages of his daughters, 
 371-372 ; letter on his first 
 wife's death, 373 ; story of his 
 second marriage, 378-384 ; his 
 parliamentary oratory, 385-386 ; 
 his idiomatic private talk, 386- 
 387 ; conversational jiowers, 
 387-388 ; his good-humour, 
 389-391 ; high spirit and cou- 
 rage, 392-393 ; painstaking, 
 394; carelessness of ptipularity, 
 394 ; neglect of usual parlia- 
 mentary methods, 395 396 ; in- 
 difference to money, 397 ; par- 
 liamentary weakness, 398-400 ; 
 political knowledge, id. ; lin- 
 guistic knowledge, 401 ; classi- 
 cal scholarship, 401 402 ; assists 
 Bentley, 402-403 ; love of lite- 
 rature, 406 ; intercoiu-se with 
 Voltaire, 407 ; friendsliip for 
 Addison, 407-408 ; and for Gay, 
 408 ; and for Pope, id. ; corre- 
 spondence with Swift, 409-411 
 
 Catherine, Czarina of Eussia, 151, 
 152 
 
 Charles II., in Jersey, 4-6 
 
 Charles VI., Emperor of Ger- 
 many, 68-69 ; his disputes with 
 Spain, 70, 155 ; calls himself 
 Kmg of Spain, 76 ; surrenders 
 the title, 149 ; his war with 
 France, 193 ; refused help by 
 Walpole, 199 ; accepts English 
 mediation, 200 ; death, 223 
 
 Charles VII., Emperor of Ger- 
 many, 245 ; appeals to Carteret 
 for help, 271 ; negotiations with 
 Carteret, 271-275 ; death, 316 
 
 Charles XII., King of Sweden, 
 30, 36 ; a)i exile in Turkey, 37 ; 
 at Stralsnnd, id. ; assists the 
 Jacobites, 37 ; death, 39 
 
 Cliarles, Prince, brother-in-law of 
 Maria Tlieresa, defeated at 
 Czaslau, 249 ; tries to enter AU
 
 INDEX 
 
 419 
 
 CHA 
 
 sace, 298 ; succeeds, 299 ; re- 
 treats, 301 
 
 Charles Emanuel, King of Sar- 
 dinia, 278 ; secured to Maria 
 Theresa by Carteret, 279 
 
 Chatham, Earl of. See Pitt 
 
 Chesterfield, Earl of, 82 ; quoted, 
 90 ; dismissed by Walpole, 167 ; 
 opposes Walpole's Spanish 
 policy, 210, 215 ; dissatisfied with 
 the new Government,241; sneers 
 at Hanover, 200, 285, 289, 292 ; 
 joins the Pelhams against Car- 
 teret, 303 ; anger of George II. 
 with, 808 ; becomes Lord-Lieu- 
 tenant of Ireland, id. ; his 
 reform of the Calendar, 310 ; 
 becomes Secretary of State in 
 the Pelhams' Government, 324 ; 
 resigns in disgust, 325 ; on 
 Carteret, 363 ; on Carteret's 
 parliamentary eloquence, 385 
 
 Choiseul, Duke of, his negotiations 
 with Pitt, 356-357 
 
 Chohuondeley, Earl of, 207 
 
 Chotusitz, Battle of, 249 
 
 Churchill, John. See Marlborough 
 
 Churchill, Sarah. See Marlbo- 
 roTigh, Duchess of 
 
 Gibber, Colley, his limping verses, 
 284 
 
 Claremont, Newcastle and his 
 mushrooms at, 311 
 
 Clarendon, Earl of, 3 ; in Jersej', 
 4 ; writing his History there, 5 
 
 Clayton, Mrs. See Sundon 
 
 Cleland, Colonel, Carteret's kind- 
 ness to, 400 
 
 Cnyphausen, Pnissian Minister at 
 Stockholm, 53 
 
 Cobham, Earl of, 168 
 
 Compact, The Family, 358 
 
 Compton, Sir Spencer. See Wil- 
 mington 
 
 Conciliahulum., The, 353, 357 
 
 Cotton, Sir John, 243 
 
 Cowper, Lord, becomes Lord 
 Chancellor, 18 
 
 Cowper, Countess. See Carteret, 
 Lady Georgiana 
 
 Craggs, James. Secretary of State, 
 on Bernsdorf, 35 ; letters of 
 Carteret to, 42, 49 ; death, 06 ; 
 on political honesty, 298 
 
 FER 
 
 Cromwell, opposed by Sir George 
 Carteret, 
 
 Cunaberland, Duke of, fondness 
 for war, 252 ; at Aschaffenberg, 
 266 ; wounded at Dettingen, 
 284; at funeral of George II., 
 312 ; beaten at Fontenoy, 316 ; 
 ffiendship with Bedford and 
 Sandwich, 326 
 
 Czaslau, Battle of, 249 
 
 DARLINGTON, Countess of, 90; 
 
 her superstition, 91 ; supports 
 
 Carteret, id. 
 Delany, Dr., Carteret's friendship 
 
 with, 389 
 Delany, Mrs., on Lady Carteret,371 
 Dettingen, village of, 267 ; battle 
 
 of, 268 
 Dettingen TeDezt^H, Handel's, 270 
 Devonshire, Duke of, attempts to 
 
 reconcile Pitt and Fox, 348 ; 
 
 Prime Minister, 349 
 Dodington, Bubb, 89, 290 ; his 
 
 Diary quoted, 340, 341 
 Dorset, Diike of, 144 
 Drapier's Letters, Swift's, 103, 
 
 111, 117-119 
 Dubois, Cardinal, 32, 72-73, 77, 
 
 89, 92, 94 
 Dungeness, French fleet at, 295 
 Duquesne, Fort, Braddock de- 
 feated at, 339 
 Dysart, Earl of, marries Lady 
 
 Grace Carteret, 371 
 
 EDGECUMBE, Lord, 161 
 Elizabeth Farnese, Queen of 
 
 Spain, 69 ; her disputes with 
 
 Charles VI., 70-71 ; her anger 
 
 with France, 149 
 Eugene, Prince, 196 
 Excise, Walpole's scheme of, 165 ; 
 
 defeated, 167 
 
 FALTvIEK, Battle of, 318 
 Fermor, Lady Charlotte, 384, n. 
 Fcrmor, Lady Sophia, 375 ; Ho- 
 race Walpole and, 370 ; Lord 
 Ijincoln and, id. ; her beauty 
 and London successes, 377 ;
 
 420 
 
 LORD CARTE BET 
 
 PLE 
 
 marriage to Carteret, 378-382 ; 
 her great popularity, 382-383 ; 
 death, 384 
 
 Fleurv, Cardinal, Pope on, 151 ; 
 dispute with Charles VI., 153, 
 150 ; supports Stanislaus as 
 King of Poland, 191 ; Carteret 
 on, 213 ; secures Lorraine for 
 France, 225 ; writes to Frederick 
 the Great on Carteret, 24G 
 
 Fontenoy, Battle of, 31G 
 
 Fox, Henry, conversation with 
 Carteret on the Irish Parlia- 
 ment, 131 ; joins Pelham's Go- 
 vernment, 309 ; a})pointed 
 (Secretary of State, 335 ; resigns 
 next day, 336 ; attacks Sir 
 Thomas liobinson, 337 ; joins 
 Newcastle's Government, 338 ; 
 Carteret's compliment to, id. ; 
 Secretary of State again, 342 ; 
 ill-treated, and resigns, 344 ; 
 anger of George II. with, 345- 
 346 ; Carteret's rebuke to, 34G ; 
 attempts to form a Government 
 with NValdegrave, 352 ; bribed 
 to secure majority for Peace of 
 Paris, 3G2 ; secret marriage with 
 Lady Caroline Lennox, 382 
 
 Francis, Grand Duke, husband of 
 Maria Theresa, 245 
 
 Frederick the Great, seen by his 
 grandfsither, George I., 86 ; ac- 
 cession of, 223 ; invades Silesia, 
 228-229 ; gains battle of Moll- 
 witz, 230 ; makes treaty with 
 France, 232 ; makes peace with 
 Maria Theresa, 233 ; attacks 
 her again, 245 ; failure, 245- 
 246 ; gains battle of Czaslau, 
 249 ; accepts peace oh Cai-teret's 
 mediation, 250 ; compliments 
 Carteret, id. ; on Carteret's 
 German policy, 274 ; early 
 failures in second Silesian war, 
 300-301 ; gains Silesia again, 
 316 ; subsidised by England in 
 Seven Years' War, 353 ; de- 
 serted by England, 362 
 
 Frederick, Prince of Wales, his 
 quarrel with George II., 177 ; 
 arrival in England, id. ; joins 
 the opposition, 178 ; marriage 
 of. 179 ; brings his affairs before 
 
 GKO 
 
 Parliament, 180-181 ; renewed 
 quarrel with the Kmg and 
 Queen, 185-186 ; Lord Shel- 
 burne on, 188 ; death, 328 
 
 Frederick William, King of Prus- 
 sia, his fitful friendship with 
 George I., 30 ; joins the alliance 
 against Charles XII., 37 ; ac- 
 cepts English mediation, 46 ; 
 his demands on Sweden, 47 ; 
 his economics, 55 ; makes peace 
 with Sweden, 56 ; visits George 
 I. at Hanover, 84 ; audience of 
 Carteret with, id. ; accepts the 
 Treaty of Hanover, 150 ; leaves 
 it, 152 ; his opinion of George 
 II., 177 ; death, 222 
 
 Friend, liobert, head-master of 
 Westminster School, 14 
 
 GAY, his Beggar's Ojjcra, 408 ; 
 friendship of Carteret for, id. 
 
 Germaine, Lady Betty, 17 
 
 German, small knowledge of, in 
 England under the German 
 Kings, 88, 404 ; Carteret's 
 knowledge of, 88 ; letter in, by 
 Carteret, 405 
 
 George I., reception in England, 
 26 ; his quarrel with the Prince 
 of Wales, 34 ; dislike of Wal- 
 pole, 82 ; favour for Carteret, 
 82, 88, 101 ; visit to Berhn, 
 85-86 ; makes Treaty of Han- 
 over, 150 ; death, 152 
 
 George II., his language about his 
 ministers, 157 ; and about the 
 bishops, 169 ; his quaz-rel with 
 the Prhice of Wales, 177, 
 185-186 ; fondness for war, 
 195 ; unable to help Maria 
 Theresa, 231 ; on Walpole, 237; 
 conversation with Pultenej^ 
 239 ; makes second atteuipt to 
 help Maria Theresa, 254 ; fails, 
 256 ; niakes third attempt, 261 ; 
 joins his army, 265 ; gains 
 battle of Dettingen, 208 ; on 
 Frederick the Great, 301 ; dis- 
 likes the Pelhams, 302, 308; 
 supports Carteret, 302, 304 ; 
 treads on Newcastle's toe, 311 ; 
 disgust with the Pelhams' Go-
 
 INDEX 
 
 421 
 
 GEO 
 
 vernment, 317 ; sends the seals 
 to Carteret, 819 ; forced to ac- 
 cej^t tlie relhains again, 320 ; 
 calls Newcastle a fool, 322 ; 
 obliged to admit Pitt to office, 
 322-323 ; hates his ministers, 
 324 ; his Hanover subsidies, 
 340-341; hia anger with Fox, 
 345-346; and with Pitt, 348, 
 350; and with Temple, 350; 
 orders Pitt to resign, id. ; ac- 
 cepts Newcastle and his ' foot- 
 men,' 352 ; death, 355 
 
 George III., on the Carteret 
 family, 2 ; accession of, 355 
 
 Gibbon, at school, 323 ; Carteret 
 on, 407 
 
 Gibraltar, proposed, cession of, to 
 Spain, 73-74 ; cession refused 
 by Carteret, 77 ; cession of, de- 
 manded by Spain and refused, 
 151 ; siege of, 151, 153 ; Spanish 
 claim dropped, 154 
 
 Glover, Richard, 244 
 
 Godolphin, Lord, 3 8, 19, 20 
 
 Godwin, William, quoted, 305-300 
 
 Goethe, 303 
 
 Gortz, Baron, 37; plots with the 
 Jacobites, 38 ; executed, 39 
 
 Grafton, Duke of, Lord-Lieutenant 
 of Ireland, 100 ; alarmed by 
 Wood's patent, 105 ; annoys and 
 irritates Walpole, 100-108 ; Wal- 
 pole's angi-y letter to, 108-109 ; 
 joins Pelham's Government, 309 
 
 Grammont, Duke of, his mistake 
 at the battle of Dettingen, 208 
 
 Granville, Family of, 1, 10 
 
 Granville, Sir Bevil, killed at 
 Jjansdowne, 12 
 
 Granville. Lady Elizabeth, 374 
 
 Granville, George, Lord Lans- 
 downe, 20 
 
 Granville, Grace, Countess Gran- 
 ville, 13, 307 ; created Vis- 
 countess Carteret and Countess 
 Granville, 25 : her friendship 
 with Swift, 307 308 ; lier im- 
 petuous ways, 308 309 ; letter 
 to Carteret, 1370 ; death, 307, 307 
 
 GEANYILLE, Earl, Lord Car- 
 teret. See Carteret. 
 
 Granville, Sir John, Earl of Bath 
 and Baron Granville, 12 ; pro- 
 
 HEK 
 
 claims Charles II. in the Scilly 
 Islands, id. ; confidential nego- 
 tiations during the Restoration, 
 13 
 
 Granville, Sir Eichard, his fight 
 agamst the Spanish fleet, 11 12 
 
 Granville, Robert, second Earl of, 
 death, 385 
 
 Granville, Lady Sophia Fermor, 
 Coiantess of. See Fermor 
 
 Grenville, Richard, Earl Temple, 
 197 ; on Pitt, 259 
 
 HANAU, Carteret's negotiations 
 at, 273-275 ; Khevenhiiller at, 
 293 ; Carteret's toast at, id. 
 
 Handel, his Dettingen Te Deum, 
 270 
 
 Hanover, anxiety of George II. 
 for, 229 ; liinders George fi'om 
 helping Maria Theresa, 231 ; 
 neutrality of, 232 ; attacks on, 
 in Parliament, 259-201, 285, 
 288-292 ; subsidies for, refused 
 by Pitt and Legge, 341 
 
 Hanover, Treaty of, 150 
 
 Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor, 
 draws up Memorial against 
 Carteret, 303; interviews with 
 George IL, 304, 313; Carteret 
 on, 354-355 
 
 Harley, Edward, Earl of Oxford,15 
 
 Harley, Robert, Earl- of Oxford, 
 joins Godolphin 's Government, 
 18 ; nickname of, 19 ; forced to 
 resign, id. ; returns to power, 
 20 ; rivalry with Bolingbroke, 25 
 
 Harrington, Earl of, 74 ; makes 
 treaty of Seville, 154 ; rudely 
 resigns office, 318 ; resumes 
 office, 320 ; anger of George II. 
 with, 322 ; Lord-Lieutenant of 
 Ireland, 324 
 
 Hatton, Lord, 15 
 
 Hawke, Admiral, 339, 340 
 
 llawlcv. General, defeated at Fal- 
 kirk,"' 318 
 
 Ilcrvej-, Lord, at AVcstminster 
 School, 14 ; on "Walpole and 
 Pulteney, 100 ; (piotes Waljiole 
 on Carteret, 108, 183 ; on Car- 
 teret, 172 ; conversation with 
 Carteret, 176 ; on Walpole's
 
 422 
 
 LORD CABTERET 
 
 HES 
 
 falsehood about Carteret, 188 ; 
 dismissed from the Government, 
 241 ; on Newcastle, 309 ; anec- 
 dote of Carteret by, 390 
 
 Hesse, Prince William of, nego- 
 tiates with Carteret on behalf of 
 the Emperor, 271-275 ; his mis- 
 conception of Carteret, 276 
 
 Hessen-Cassel, Prince of, King of 
 Sweden, his friendship with 
 Carteret, 40, 49 
 
 Hill, Abigail, supports Harley, 19, 
 20 
 
 Homer, quotation from, b^^ Car- 
 teret, 364 
 
 Howard, Lord Thomas, 11 
 
 Hutcheson, Francis, his friendship 
 with Carteret, 406 
 
 Hyde, Edward. See Clarendon 
 
 Hyndford, Lord, ambassador at 
 Berlin, tries to reconcile Frede- 
 rick with Maria Theresa, 232 ; 
 arranges Treaty of Breslau, 
 250 
 
 IRELAND, Carteret becomes 
 Lord-Liei;tenant of, 101 ; the 
 copper coinage of, and Wood's 
 Patent, 103-128 ;   Prhuate 
 Boulter's policy towards, 129 ; 
 Swift on English government 
 of, 131 ; quietness of, during 
 Carteret's Lord-Lieutenancy, id. 
 
 JACOBITES, the, 23; Boling- 
 broke and, id. 
 
 Jersey, home of the Carterets in, 
 1 ; defended by them against 
 the French, 2 ; Charles II. in, 
 4 ; Cromwell's attack on, 6, 7 
 
 Jenkins, Kobert, the story of his 
 ear, 206, 212 
 
 Johnson, Dr., 212 ; his anecdote 
 of Dr. John Taylor, 403-404 
 
 MAN 
 
 Wood's Irish coinage, 104, 108. 
 
 112 
 Khevenhiiller, General, recovers 
 
 Linz, 245 ; successes of, 251 ; 
 
 A-isits George II. at Hanau, 293 
 King, Dr. William, Archbishop of 
 
 Dublin, on Carteret and ^^'ood'8 
 
 coinage, 119-121 ; his action in 
 
 the Irish Parliament, 128 ; his 
 
 friend jhij) with Lady Carteret, 
 
 371 
 Kleinschnellendorf, Treaty of, 233; 
 
 cancelled, 245 
 Knipe, Dr. Thomas, head-master 
 
 of Westminster School, 14 
 
 LANSDOWNE, Battle of, 12 
 
 Lansdowne, Lord. See Granville, 
 George 
 
 Lansdowne, First Marquis of. See 
 Shelburne 
 
 Layer, his Jacobite plot, 79 
 
 Legge, Chancellor of the Ex- 
 chequer, refuses subsidy for 
 Hanover, 341 ; dismissed, 342 
 
 Lennox, Lady Caroline, Henry 
 Fox's secret marriage with, 382 
 
 Leonidas, Kichard Glover's, 244 
 
 Lewenohr, Danish ambassador to 
 Sweden, 58-60 
 
 Lexden Heath, camp on, 252 
 
 Lincoln, Lord, his fancy for Lady 
 Sophia Fermor, 376, '378 
 
 Longleat, Carteret's marriage at, 
 17, 371 
 
 Lorraine, conquered bvFrance, 193; 
 secured to France by treat}', 200 
 
 Louis XV., withdraws his troops 
 from Germany, 293 ; his cam- 
 paign in Flanders and illness at 
 Metz, 299 
 
 Lyttelton, Lord, his first session 
 in Parliament, 197 ; joins the 
 Pelhams against Carteret, 303 
 
 Lytton, Lord, on Carteret, iii., 406 
 
 KENDAL, Duchess of, 82 ; Horace 
 AValpole's Jescription of, 90-91 ; 
 her influence with George I., 
 91 ; supports Walpole and 
 Townshciid, 91, 92; her ava- 
 rice, 91, 103 ; bribed to support 
 
 MAHON, Port, attacked by the 
 
 French, 343 
 Maillebois, goes to relief of French 
 
 in Prag, 254 
 Mansfield, Lord, at Westminster 
 
 School, 14 ; first speech in Par-
 
 INDEX 
 
 42B 
 
 MAR 
 
 liament, 200 ; uninterested in 
 politics, 834 ; declnies to remain 
 in Parliament, 344; on Carteret's 
 fine temper, 390 
 
 Marchmont, Earl of, English am- 
 bassador to Denmark, 57-58, 
 GO ; on Carteret, George I., and 
 the Duchess of Kendal, 82 ; on 
 Walpole and the Spanish ques- 
 tion, 211 ; on Harrington's rude- 
 ness to George II., 318 ; on 
 Pulteney and Lord Carlisle, 320 ; 
 letter from Carteret to, 219 ; 
 conversation with Chesterfield, 
 324 ; dismissed bv ^^'alpole, 
 168 
 
 Maria Theresa, accession of, 228 ; 
 defeated at Mollwitz, 230 ; sub- 
 sidised by England, 231 ; ap- 
 peals to Hungary, 232 ; makes 
 peace with Frederick, 233 ; at- 
 tacked by Frederick, 245 ; sur- 
 renders Silesia and makes peace, 
 250 ; not very grateful to Eng- 
 land, 263 ; makes treaty witli 
 Sardinia, 279 ; again attacked 
 by Frederick, 300-301 ; forced 
 again to yield Silesia, 316 
 
 Marlborough, Duchess of, 19 ; on 
 Carteret, 226 
 
 Marlborough, Duke of, his connec- 
 tion with political parties, 18 ; 
 refuses to act with Harley, 19 ; 
 dismissed, 68 
 
 Masham, Mrs. See HiU 
 
 Melcombe, Lord. See Dodington 
 
 Messina, Spanish fleet destroyed 
 at, 71 
 
 jNIidleton, Lord. Lord Chancellor 
 of Ireland, 105 ; anger of George 
 I. with, 112 113; conversation 
 with Carteret on the Drainer's 
 Letters, 119 ; on Carteret's diffi- 
 culties in Ireland, 127 ; Parlia- 
 mentary conduct of, 128 
 
 i\Iinorca, capture of, by Stanhope, 
 22 ; taken by the French, 343 
 
 Mollwitz, Battle of, 230 
 
 Moravia, failure of Frederick the 
 Great's- expedition in, 245 
 
 Motion, the, 227-228, n. 
 
 Moyle, General, his conduct during 
 the Porteous riots, 171 
 
 Murray, William. See Mansfield 
 
 ORF 
 
 NEWCASTLE, Duke of, 67, 68; 
 his early treachery to Carteret, 
 114; bulUed by Queen CaroUne, 
 175 ; on Carteret, 183 ; attempts 
 to intrigue with Pultenej', 238 ; 
 his jealousy of Carteret, 258 ; 
 interferes with Carteret's Ger- 
 man policy, 275 ; plots agamst 
 Carteret, 283, 296-298 ; disliked 
 by George II., 302 ; presents 
 Memorial against Carteret, 303 ; 
 triumphs o^ er him, 305 ; cha- 
 racter of, 309-313; supported 
 by Pitt, 313-314; George II. 
 disgusted with, 317 ; resigns, 
 318 ; returns to power, 320 ; 
 quarrels with his brother, 324 ; 
 plots against Duke of Bedford, 
 326; tries to gain over Carteret, 
 327 ; sad condition of, 327-328 ; 
 becoines Prime Minister, 333 ; 
 slinks out of his engagement 
 with Fox, 336 ; negotiates with 
 Fox, 338 ; his absm-dity as Prime 
 Minister, 339 ; appeals for help 
 to Carteret, 341 ; forms union 
 with Fox, 342 ; abandoned by 
 Murray and Fox. 344 ; distress 
 of, 347 ; again implores Carteret 
 to become Prime Minister, 348 ; 
 at last resigns, id. ; tries to form 
 a new Goveriunent with Pitt, 
 351 ; intrigues against Walde- 
 grave and Fox, 352 ; Prime 
 Minister again, 353 ; resigns, 
 361 ; his absurdity on Fox's 
 secret marriage, 383 ; and on 
 Lady Granville's receptions, id. 
 
 Newton, Sir Isaac, Master of the 
 Mint, 110 
 
 Noailles, will not fight Stair, 265 ; 
 his plans for defeating tlie Eng- 
 lish allies, 267 
 
 Norris, Admiral, 37, 41, 44, 47-49 ; 
 sails to Stockholm to support 
 Sweden, 49 ; sails to meet the 
 French at Dungcness, 295 
 
 Nugent, Earl, arranges private 
 meeting between Carteret and 
 Pelham, 329 330 
 
 OUFOED, First Earl of. SeeWal- 
 pole. Sir Robert
 
 424 
 
 LORD CABTEBET 
 
 ORP 
 
 Orford, Second Earl of. See Wal- 
 
 pole, Horace 
 Orleans, Duke of, Eep;ent of France, 
 
 31 ; his desire for an English 
 
 alliance, id. ; death, 100 
 Osnabriick, death of George I. at, 
 
 152 
 Oxford, Earl of. See Harley 
 
 PARIS, Peace of. 3G2 ; opposed 
 l)y Pitt, 303 
 
 Pelham, Hem\v, jealous of Car- 
 teret, 258 ; becomes Prime 
 Minister, 281 ; anxious to get 
 rid of Carteret, 283 ; disliked 
 by George II., 302 ; triumphs 
 over Carteret, 305 ; supported 
 by Pitt, 313-314; follows Car- 
 teret's measures, 315 ; George 
 II. disgusted with, 317 ; resigns, 
 319 ; returns to power, 321 ; 
 quarrels with his brother, 324 ; 
 miserable state of his n:iinistry, 
 327-328 ; private mterview with 
 Carteret, 329-330 ; his dread of 
 Carteret, 331 ; death, 333 
 
 Pelham, Thomas Holies. See 
 Newcastle 
 
 Pepys, 8 ; fi-iendship with Sir 
 George Carteret, 7-8 ; his ac- 
 count of Sir Philip Carteret's 
 marriage, 8-10 
 
 Peter the Great, 30 ; attacks 
 Sweden, 36, 43-44 ; Carteret's 
 Swedish policy towards, 49 ; 
 refuses English mediation, 57 
 
 Peterborough, Earl of, 08 
 
 Philipsburg, Siege of, 193, 196 
 
 Pitt, AVilliam, member for Old 
 Sarum, 197 ; dismissed by \\'al- 
 pole, 179 ; attacks Walpole's 
 Spanish policy, 217 ; attacks 
 Carteret's Government, 259 ; 
 violent Parliamentary invective 
 against Carteret, 286, 288, 290, 
 292, 314 ; his early political 
 career, 287 ; on Carteret, 244 ; 
 joins the Pelhams against Car- 
 teret, 303, 307; refused office 
 by the King, 308 ; and again, 
 317 ; calls Newcastle a liar, 
 310 ; supports Newcastle's Go- 
 vornmont, 313-315; his incon- 
 
 PRI 
 
 sistency, 315; joins the Pelhams' 
 Government, 323 ; depressed by 
 the King's dislike, 334-335 ; 
 attacks the Government of 
 which he is a member, 337 ; 
 dismissed, 342 ; George II. on, 
 345 ; refuses to join Newcastle's 
 Government, 347 ; will not act 
 with Fox, 348 ; becomes Secre- 
 tary of State in the Duke of 
 Devonshire's Government, 349 ; 
 ordered by George II. to resign, 
 350 ; negotiates with Newcastle, 
 351 ; becomes Secretary of 
 State in Newcastle's Govern- 
 ment, 353 ; on their harmo- 
 nious Cabinet lueetings, 354 ; 
 opposed by George III. and 
 Bute, 356 ; his negotiations 
 approved by Carteret, 350 ; re- 
 fuses Spanish mediation be- 
 tween England and France, 
 
 357 ; proposes war with Spain, 
 
 358 ; resigns, 359 ; Carteret's 
 view of, 360-361 ; accepts a 
 pension, 362 ; opposes the Peace 
 of Paris, 363 ; his tribute to 
 Carteret, 391 
 
 Polwarth, Lord, appointed to 
 
 Cambrai Congress, 78. See 
 
 Marchmont 
 Pomfret, Lady, in Florence, 375 ; 
 
 warns Horace AValpole off, 376 ; 
 
 Horace Walpole on, id. 
 Pope, Alexander, 14, 20, 151 ; 
 
 anecdote of Carteret and, 408- 
 
 409 
 Porteous, Captain, execxition of, 
 
 170 
 PorteoiTS Riots, 170 171 ; parlia- 
 mentary action regarding, 172- 
 
 176 
 Porto-Bello. taken bj' Admiral 
 
 Vernon, 222 
 Poyntz, Stephen, 153 
 Prag, taken by the French, 245 ; 
 
 siege of French in, 251 ; their 
 
 escape fi-om, 264 ; taken and 
 
 abandoned by Frederick the 
 
 Great, 301 
 Pragmatic Sanction. 69. 149, 153, 
 
 156 157, 191-192, 200, 223, 
 
 229 
 Prior, Matthew, at Westminster
 
 INDEX 
 
 425 
 
 PRO 
 
 School, 14 ; his acquaintance 
 with Carteret, 17 
 
 Protestant Succession, question of 
 the, 22-23 
 
 Pryinie, William, inijDrisoned in 
 Jersey, 2 ; befriended by the 
 Carterets, 2-3 
 
 Pulteney, William, educated at 
 Westminster, 14 ; on Euroi^ean 
 treaties, 156 ; in Walpole's 
 Government, IGO ; joins the 
 opposition to Walpole, id. ; 
 attacks Walpole's Spanish po- 
 licy, 205-207 ; secedes fr-om 
 Parliament, 218 ; severe on 
 Walpole, 221 ; accepts Wal- 
 pole's parliamentary challenge, 
 236; defeated by ma,jority of 
 three, 237 ; declines secret un- 
 derstanding with Newcastle, 
 238 ; conversation of George II. 
 with, 239 ; proposed as Prime 
 Minister, 240; joins the new 
 Government, 241 ; upset by the 
 crisis, 244 ; unpopidarity of, 
 257, 281 ; advises George II. 
 against Pitt, 318 ; made First 
 Lord of the Treasury, 319 ; sud- 
 denly resigns, id. 
 
 Pultowa, Battle of, 37 
 
 ' REVENGE,' fight of the, against 
 the Spanish tieet, 11 
 
 Richmond, Duke of, his MSS. 
 qiioted, 317 
 
 Riot Act passed, 26 
 
 Ripperda, influence of, with the 
 Queen of Spain, 148 ; his secret 
 negotiations with Germany, 
 148-149 ; his ])lottings with the 
 Stuart Pretender, 150 
 
 Robethon, Secretary of George I., 
 26, 34 
 
 Robinson, Sir Thomas, ambas- 
 sador at Vienna, attempts to 
 reconcile Maria Theresa with 
 Frederick, 231 ; made Secretary 
 of State and Leader of the 
 House of Commons, 337 ; re- 
 moved, 342 
 
 SACHEVERELL, Dr., his ser- 
 
 SOP 
 
 mons, 19 ; prosecution of, 20 ; 
 preaches before Parliament, 23 
 
 St. John. See Bolingbroke 
 
 Sandwich, Earl of, drowned, 10 
 
 Sandys, Samuel, becomes Chan- 
 cellor of the Excheqiier, 241 
 
 Saxe, Marshal, preparing to in- 
 vade England, 295 ; gains the 
 battle of Fontenoy, 316 
 
 Schaub, Sir Luke, English am- 
 bassador at Paris, 73, 78, 92 ; 
 Walpole's suspicion of, 92 ; up- 
 holds Carteret's influence at 
 Paris, 93 ; Walpole's plot to 
 remove, 94 ; plotted against by 
 Horatio Walpole at Paris, 98- 
 100 ; recalled. 100 
 
 Schism Act, repeal of, 22 
 
 Selwyn, George, 312, 387 
 
 Septennial Act, passed, 27-28 
 
 Settlement, Act of, 23 
 
 Seven Years' War, opening of, 
 343 
 
 Seville, Treaty of, 154 
 
 Shelburne, Lord, on Sunderland, 
 21-22; conversation with I'ul- 
 tenej^ 244 ; quotes Carteret's 
 liolitical advice, 340 ; on the 
 Prince of Wales, 188 ; on Car- 
 teret and Pitt as letter- writers, 
 269 ; on the Government during 
 the Seven Years' War, 354 ; on 
 Carteret's last illness, 365 ; on 
 Carteret's parliamentary elo- 
 quence, 386 ; on Carteret's talk, 
 388 ; on Carteret's carelessness 
 about money, 397 ; marries 
 Carteret's daughter, 384 
 
 Sheridan, Dr., his friendship with 
 Swift and Carteret, 141 ; his 
 absent-mindedness, 142 
 
 Sherlock, Bishop, 174, 176 
 
 Shippen, William, 161 
 
 Shrewsbiu'v, Duke of, made Lord 
 Treasurer, 25 
 
 Silesia, mvaded by Frederick, 228; 
 surrendered to him, 250 ; again 
 surrendered, 316 
 
 Smollett, Tobias, 222 
 
 Soissons, Congress of, 153 
 
 Sophia Charlotte, First Queen of 
 Prussia, 85 
 
 Sopliia Dorothea, Queen of Prus- 
 sia, daughter of George I., de- 
 
 F F
 
 426 
 
 LOBD CARTERET 
 
 SOP 
 
 sires a double marriage between 
 England and Prussia, 83 ; 
 visited by George I. at Berlin, 
 85-86 
 
 Sophocles, Carteret's intimate 
 knowledge of works of, 142 
 
 South Sea Bubble, 65 
 
 South Sea Company, its trade 
 with America, 202, 214 
 
 Southwold Bay, battle of, 10 
 
 Spain, English disi^ute with, 202- 
 220 ; war with, 220 ; Treaty of 
 Aix-la-Chapelle with, 325 
 
 Stair, Earl of, English ambassa- 
 dor at Paris, 31 ; interview with 
 Queen Caroline, 165-166 ; on 
 Walpole, 211 ; quoted, 226 ; 
 negotiations of, at the Hague, 
 248, 252 ; disgusted with the 
 Dutch, 253 ; correspondence 
 with Carteret, 261-262; marches 
 into Germany, 263 ; halts at 
 Aschaffenberg, 265 ; resigns 
 after battle of Dettingen. 270 ; 
 becomes commander of the 
 home forces, 296 
 
 Stanhope, General, Earl of, cap- 
 tures Minorca, 22 ; character of, 
 id. ; repeals Schism Act, id. ; 
 his religious toleration, id. ; 
 arranges treaty with France, 
 32; opposes Walpole and Towns - 
 hend, 34, 36 ; appoints Carteret 
 ambassador to Sweden, 39 ; 
 death, 66 
 
 Stanhope, Philip Dormer. See 
 Chesterfield 
 
 Stanhope, William. See Harring- 
 ton 
 
 Stanislaus Leczinski, 191 ; re- 
 chosen King of Poland, 192 ; 
 flight from Warsaw, 193 
 
 Steele, Richard, expelled from the 
 House of Commons, 24 ; remark 
 of Carteret on, 387-388 
 
 Stella, Swift's Journal to, 17 
 
 Sterne, Lawrence, at siege of 
 Gibraltar, 151 
 
 Sunderland, Lord, becomes Secre- 
 tary of State, 18 ; dismissed, 
 20-21 ; his passionate temper, 
 21-22 ; Lord-Lieutenant of Ire- 
 land, 29 ; intrigues at Hanover 
 against Walpole and Towns- 
 
 TOW 
 
 hend, 33 ; resigns, 66 ; Car- 
 teret's friendship for, 392 
 
 Sundon, Lady, 183 
 
 Sweden, joins Jacobites against 
 England, 37 ; rainous condition 
 of, 40-41 ; yields Bremen and 
 Verden to George I., 42 ; Car- 
 teret's mission in, 40-61 
 
 Swift, Dean, on Carteret's learn- 
 ing, 16 ; early friendship with 
 Carteret, 16-17 ; fi'iendship with 
 Bolingbroke, 20 ; his Public 
 Spirit of the Whigs, 24 ; 
 opposes Wood's patent, 104; 
 attacks Wood's patent in the 
 Drapier's Letters, 111 ; hopes 
 for Carteret's help against the 
 patent, 116; on Carteret, 118; 
 publishes the Drapier's fourth 
 Letter, 117; proclamation 
 against, 120 ; strange scene with 
 Carteret, 120-121 ; manifestoes 
 by, 123 ; on English govern- 
 ment of Ireland, 130 ; his Vi>i- 
 dication of Lord Carteret, 132 ; 
 correspondence with Carteret, 
 133-137, 409-411; his friend- 
 ship with Lady Carteret, 137- 
 138 ; and with Lady Worsley, 
 138-141 ; renewed friendship 
 with Carteret in Ireland, 141- 
 145 ; on Walpole, 233 ; dedi- 
 cates a poem to Carteret, 366 ; 
 his friendship with Countess 
 Granville, 367-368; on Lady 
 Carteret's beauty, 371 ; story 
 of, by Carteret, 389 ; on Car- 
 teret's scholarship, 401 
 
 TAYLOR, Dr. John, anecdote of, 
 403 ; assisted by Carteret, 404 
 
 Temple, Earl, abused by George 
 II., 345, 350 ; supports Pitt's 
 desire for war with Spain, 359 
 
 Tennyson, quoted, 11 
 
 Townshend, Lord, 21, 29 ; dis- 
 missed from the Government, 
 36; returns to office, 66; in- 
 trigues at Hanover against 
 Carteret, 82, 87, 94-98; Car- 
 teret's relations with, 102 ; 
 Walpole's quarrel with, 159 ; 
 gives up political life, id.
 
 INDEX 
 
 427 
 
 TRE 
 
 Trevor, Mr., ambassador at the 
 
 Hagvie, 252 
 Triennial Act, repealed, 27-28 
 Tyrawley, Lord, English ambas- 
 sador to Russia, letters from 
 and to Carteret, 381-382 
 
 ULEIQUE ELEANORA, Queen 
 of Sweden, 39 ; desires peace 
 with England, id. ; receives 
 Carteret at Stockholm, 40 
 
 VERDEN, acquired by George L, 
 37 ; formally yielded by Sweden, 
 51,52 
 
 Vernon, Admiral, takes Porto - 
 Bello, 222 ; fails at Cartagena, 
 234 
 
 Vienna, Treaty of, 149 ; second 
 Treaty of, 156 ; third Treat v of, 
 200 
 
 Villars, Marshal, 193 
 
 Voltaire, anecdote of Swift by, 
 130 ; at Cambrai during the 
 Congress, 147 ; friendship with 
 Lady Simdon in England, 
 183 ; in England, 407 ; sends 
 Carteret his Henriade, id. 
 
 WADE, Marshal, commands Eng- 
 lish troops in Flanders, 299 ; 
 incapacity of, 300 
 
 Waldegrave, Lord, on George II., 
 302 ; on Newcastle, 311 ; ne- 
 gotiates between Newcastle and 
 Fox, 338 ; quoted, 339 ; attempts 
 to form a Government with 
 Fox, 351 ; encouraged by Car- 
 teret, 351 352 ; fails, 352 
 
 Walpole, Dorothy, 159 
 
 Walpole, Horace, 226 ; on Sir 
 Robert Walpole, 234, 236 ; on 
 Frederick the Great, 248 ; 
 quoted, 255, 284 ; on battle of 
 Dettingen, 270; supports Car- 
 teret in Parliament, 291 ; on 
 Newcastle, 305, 312 ; on Car- 
 teret and the Pelhams, 307, 
 330 ; on Carteret's three days' 
 ministry, 320 ; describes Car- 
 teret's negotiations between the 
 
 WAL 
 
 King, Fox, and Newcastle, 345 ; 
 anecdote of Carteret and Fox 
 by, 346 ; his fancy for Lady 
 Sophia Fermor, 376; his ac- 
 count of Carteret's second mar- 
 riage, 378 381 ; and of Coimtess 
 Granville's death, 384 ; on 
 Carteret's parliamentary elo- 
 qiience, 386 
 
 Walpole, Horatio, 32, 34, 35; 
 appointed to intrigue against 
 Carteret in Paris, 95 ; his am- 
 biguous position there, 98 ; his 
 final success, 100 ; at the 
 Soissons Congress, 153 ; nego- 
 tiates at the Hague, 196 
 
 Walpole, Sir Robert, becomes 
 Secretary at War, 19 ; one of 
 the WTiig leaders, 21 ; on Sun- 
 derland's temper, 22 ; Sunder- 
 land's intrigues against, 33, 35 ; 
 resigns, 36; returns to power, 
 66 ; his dread of able colleagues, 
 67 ; his character and parlia- 
 mentary aims, 80-81 ; his 
 jealousy of Carteret, 81 ; in- 
 trigues against him, 82 ; secures 
 his dismissal, 100 ; irritated 
 by Grafton's conduct in Ire- 
 land, 106-108 ; upholds Wood's 
 patent, id. ; reduces its amount, 
 110; wishes Carteret to go to 
 Ireland, 114 ; forced to sur- 
 render the patent, 128 ; mediates 
 between Charles VI. and Spain, 
 155 ; disliked by George II., 
 157 ; brief loss of power, 158 ; 
 determination to get rid of Car- 
 teret, 162 163 ; his Excise 
 scheme, 165 ; its failm-e, 167 ; 
 will never work with Carteret, 
 182-183 ; his falsehood about 
 Carteret, 187-188; his foreign 
 policy, 190, 196 ; refuses to help 
 the Emperor, 199 ; mediates 
 for him. 200 ; his Spanish policv, 
 205, 207 ; its failure, 209 ; de- 
 clares war rather than resign, 
 220 ; increasing opposition to, 
 221, 223 ; his aj^parent parlia- 
 mentary success, 227 ; impo- 
 pular in the coimtry, 233-234 ; 
 his parliamentary challenge to 
 PiUteney, 236 ; end of his par-
 
 428 
 
 LOBD CABTEBET 
 
 WAt 
 
 liamentary majority, id. ; re- 
 signs, 287 ; becomes Earl of 
 Orfortl, id. ; alarmed for his 
 personal safety, 239 ; negotiates 
 with Carteret and Pulteney, 
 240 ; on the battle of Dettingen, 
 270 ; encoxu-ages the Pelhanis 
 against Carteret, 281-283 ; snp- 
 ports Carteret's policy regarding 
 Hanoverian troops, 291 ; ad- 
 vises George II. to dismiss 
 Carteret, 305 ; on Newcastle, 310 
 
 Walpoliana, anecdote from, 377, w. 
 
 Washington, George, his first 
 historical appearance, 338 
 
 Westminster School, famoiis 
 scholars of, 14 
 
 Weymouth, Viscomit, marries 
 Lady Louisa Carteret, 571 
 
 Wharton, Duke of, 24 
 
 Whitworth, English ambassador 
 at Berlin, 54 ; appointed to 
 Cambrai Congress, 78 
 
 Willes, Lord Chief Jiistice, anec- 
 dote of Carteret bj', 396 
 
 Williams, Sir C. H., on Pulteney, 
 257, n. 
 
 YOR 
 
 Wilmington, Lord, brief power 
 of, 158, 161 ; Prime Minister, 
 240 ; death, 280 
 
 Wood, his coinage patent, 104 ; 
 abused by Swift, id. ; his patent 
 much reduced, 110 ; and finally 
 canceDed, 128 
 
 Worms, Treaty of, 279 
 
 Worsley, Lady, her intimacy with 
 Swift, 137 ; coiTespondence 
 with Swift, 138-141; verse of 
 Pope on, 370 
 
 Wusterhaiisen, Treaty of, 152 
 
 Wyndham, Sir William, leads the 
 Hanoverian Tories, 161 ; secedes 
 from Parliament, 218 ; on Wal- 
 pole's Spanish policy, 221 
 
 YARMOUTH, Countess of,255,M.; 
 on Newcastle, 310 
 
 Yester, seat of Marquis of Tweed- 
 dale, 374 
 
 Yorke, Hon. Philip, his Parlia- 
 mentary Journal, 285, n.; on 
 Pitt, 287 ; on Carteret, 289 
 
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