parliament he might, perhaps, still be at liberty to serve his country as before; but now, being unable to discern the least appearance of reason in any one argument offered on the ministerial side, he must conclude either that the majority was swayed by other or secret arguments, or that he himself wanted common sense to comprehend the force of those which he had heard. In the first case, he could not with honour sit in an assembly determined by such influences; in the latter case, he looked upon himself as a very unfit person to act as a senator; and in either case, therefore, he thought it his duty for the future to retire, and content himself with offering up his prayers for the preservation of his country."
In the course of his farewell speech, Wyndham made use of such violent language, that Mr. Pelham jumped up to move the commitment of the honourable member to the Tower; but Walpole was too well aware that such a proceeding would have wonderfully served the ends of the opposition, rendering them martyrs to their country's cause, and raising a vivid interest in their behalf. He therefore stopped him, and said that the measures which that gentleman and his friends might pursue gave him no uneasiness; on the contrary, the house was much obliged to them for pulling off the mask. "We can be on our guard," he said, "against open opposition, but it is difficult to guard against secret traitors. The faction I speak of," he said, "never sate in this house, never joined in any public measure of the government, but with a view to distress it, and serve a popish interest. The gentleman who is now the mouth of this faction was looked upon as the head of those traitors who, five-and-twenty years ago, conspired the destruction of this country and of the royal family to set a popish pretender upon the throne. He was seized by the vigilance of the government, and pardoned by its clemency; but all the use he ungratefully made of that clemency has been to qualify himself according to law, that he and his party may, some time or other, have an opportunity to overthrow all law. I am only afraid that they will not be so good as their word—that they will return; for I remember that in the case of their favourite prelate (Atterbury), who was impeached of treason, the same gentleman and his faction made the same resolution. They went off, like traitors as they were; but their retreat had not the detestable effect they wished and expected, and therefore they returned. Ever since, sir, they have persevered in the same treasonable intention of serving that interest by distressing the government; but I hope their behaviour will unite all true friends of the present happy establishment of the crown in his majesty's person and family more firmly than ever, and that the gentlemen who with good intentions have been deluded into the like measures, will awake from their delusion, since the trumpet of rebellion is now audaciously sounded."
With such a flaying censure sounding in their ears, the seceders were not likely to carry much public sympathy with them, for, unfortunately, there was too much truth in this uncompromising charge of the minister. The weakness of the opposition of that day rose from the palpable fact, that it was not from patriotic motives that they acted, but to destroy the protestant dynasty, and lead back again the worst race which had ever cursed the country. Bolingbroke was still their counsellor, and the solid, independent good of their country the last thing in their thoughts. Sir John Barnard, a man of a different stamp, Mr. Plumer, of Hertfordshire, lord Polwarth, and a few others, refused to join the secession, who, as Walpole foretold, were very soon convinced that they had made a gross blunder, and were anxious to get back again on some plea or other. They hoped that a call of the house fixed for Monday would give them this opportunity, either to return to their posts, as in obedience to it, or by giving occasion for their being taken into custody, and thus making them objects of public interest. But Walpole perceived this object, and defeated it by moving an adjournment till Tuesday.
Relieved of their presence, he now carried his measures in unopposed quiet. There was little speaking, for there was no need to show the propriety of measures, and thus deprive opposition of its force, and there was no division. Bills were introduced and carried as a matter of course; bills on behalf of the woollen manufacturers and the sugar colonies. The only question which raised a debate and a division was the repeal of the Test Act, on which Walpole and some of his supporters were at issue; but this was negatived by a larger majority than on the previous occasion. Nay, there can be no doubt that the opportunity was seized to pass such objectionable measures as would scarcely have been resolved upon in the face of a present opposition. Such was the proposal for a subsidy to the king of Denmark, by which we agreed to pay him annually two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for three years, on condition that he held six thousand men at our service, if we should need them. The reason alleged for this subsidy was that the French government had been endeavouring to draw Denmark and Sweden into an alliance against England, and had made them such advantageous offers as it was necessary for us to outbid. But this was a barefaced pretence without foundation. The real cause was another Hanover job which this country was called upon to pay for, and the opposition, by its absence, lost a most admirable opportunity of exposing its grossness. George had bought a petty castle called Steinhorst from the duke of Holstein; but the Danes declared that the place belonged to them, and dispatched a body of troops against it. A skirmish ensued, and the Danes were driven back. They prepared, however, for a more efficient attack, and George, to get rid of the trouble without any cost to himself, hit upon this subsidy as a placebo for Denmark. A more impudent transaction it was difficult to conceive; and it was of little use for the opposition, from their distant country seats, to cry out against it, or for Bolingbroke to apprehend that "we should throw the small remainder of our wealth where we have thrown so much already, into the German gulph, which cries 'Give! give !' and is never satisfied." The opposition had, in fact, invited such dirty transactions by their desertion of their post.
Parliament, having so smoothly transacted its business, was prorogued on the 14th of June, and Walpole then addressed himself to the settlement of the Spanish difference. But here he found a spirit of resistance which had undoubtedly grown from the invectives of the opposition. The outcries against the Spanish captains, the right of search, and the payment of compensation for the ships taken by Byng, had given great offence to the proud Spaniards. They
