present, he would treat him in the same manner. This story was now seven years old, but it was not the loss warmly received on that account. It excited the utmost horror, and Jenkins was ordered to appear at the bar of the house of commons on the 16th of March, to give an account of the outrage himself; and it would appear that both he and other witnesses were examined the same day. Jenkins carried his ear about with him wrapped in cotton, to show to those to whom he related the fact, and the indignation was intense. It has been suggested that probably the captain was wearing both his ears at the time under his bushy locks, though the excited feelings of his auditors did not suggest to them to make the examination. But Tindal, the historian, asserts that he certainly had lost an ear, but, as it was suspected, as a punishment from the hands of his own countrymen, and probably in the pillory.
Pulteuey, Barnard, Wyndham, and Pitt, who took the lead in this movement, made the most of this story, and William Murray, afterwards lord Mansfield, was engaged by the petitioners as their counsel. But an answer of Jenkins himself produced the most universal effect. He was asked by a member how he felt when he found himself in the hands of such barbarians, and he replied, "I recommended my soul to God, and my cause to my country." The worthy skipper had probably been crammed with this dramatic sentiment by some of his clever parliamentary introducers; but its effect was all the same as if it had been a genuine and involuntary expression of his own mind. It had an electric effect both in parliament and the country. "We have no need of allies," exclaimed Pulteney, in triumph, "to enable us to command justice; the story of Jenkins will raise volunteers." Burke has since dubbed this story, "The Fable of Jenkins' Ears."
After the eloquent and stirring speech of Mr. Murray, Pulteney delivered one of his most masterly harangues on the question, declaring that the British nation had a right to sail freely over any sea in the globe, so that they did not intrude into forbidden ports; that, so long as they kept out of the Spanish harbours, they were at liberty to traverse the American waters, and to carry their articles of commerce from one British colony to another; that they had a just right to cut logwood in Campeachy Bay, and to gather salt on the Island of Tortuga. These were rights which the Spaniards denied, and had sometimes resisted, though at other times they had suffered the English, who went with arms in their hands, to carry away those articles. Pulteney, however, contended that we had acquired a right by long use.
"Walpole, in reply, said he did not deny that the Spaniards had committed great outrages on English traders, but he thought these might receive a full and friendly compensation, and he promised his utmost exertions towards this end with the court of Madrid. He besought the house not to close the avenues to accommodation by any intemperate proceedings, and by denying altogether the right of search, which he thought the Spaniards would not readily relinquish. He had been severely ridiculed for his tameness, as the opposition called it. Imperious as he is at home, he is no less abject and crouching, they said, abroad; and they quoted continually some lines ascribed to bishop Atterbury, which called him "The cur-dog of Britain and spaniel of Spain." Walpole now repudiated these charges. "I have always," he said, "disregarded a popularity that was not acquired by a hearty zeal for the public interest, and 1 have been long enough in this house to see that the most steady opposers of popularity, founded upon any other views, had lived to receive the thanks of their country for that opposition. For my part, I never could see any cause, either from reason or my own experience, to imagine that a minister is not as safe in time of war as in time of peace. Nay, if we are to judge by reason alone, it is the interest of a minister, conscious of any mismanagement, that there should be a war, because by a war the eyes of the public are diverted from examining into his conduct; nor is he accountable for the bad success of a war as he is for that of an administration."
Walpole in the commons maintained his ascendancy against the repeated attacks of Pulteney, but Chesterfield and Carteret in the peers found no men capable of competing with them, and they carried some strong resolutions which were embodied in an address to the crown. At the same time, Walpole had to contend with the false and wayward conduct of the Spanish ambassador. This was a man of Irish descent, Thomas Fitzgerald, now bearing the Spanish cognomen of Don Thomas Geraldino, who caballed with the opposition, and, encouraged by their conduct, held most intemperate language in public regarding the matters in dispute. He made no hesitation in betraying state secrets to serve his purpose, and declared everywhere that ministers were deceiving the country by pretending that Spain would be induced to give up what she knew to be her inalienable rights. Walpole sent a formal complaint of his conduct to the court of Madrid, but Geraldino assured the Spanish government that Walpole, whilst pretending pacific measures, was doing all in his power to destroy the security of the Spanish trade, and that the interest of Spain was to foment to the utmost the differences and discontents in England; and, under this persuasion, the Spanish government kept him still in London.
And, in truth, everything now seemed to run counter to Walpole, and to tend towards war. His colleague, the duke of Newcastle, who had been one of the most obsequious of subordinates both under Stanhope and himself, now thought he should serve himself decidedly by advocating war. The king was naturally of a martial turn ; he had won some military repute in his youth, and he was no longer under the much more sensible guidance of the queen. Newcastle, therefore, probably in the hope of supplanting Walpole, fostered this spirit in the king, and took advantage of it to recommend warlike measures in the cabinet, and to send dispatches to the English ambassadors in Spain, which it required all the energy and wisdom of Walpole to prevent doing irreparable mischief, and which rendered the negotiations extremely difficult. Lord chancellor Hardwicke and lord Harrington arrayed themselves on the same side, and blew the war-note in the house of lords with unrestrained zeal. There was a time when Walpole would have had these antagonistic colleagues dismissed; but both he and they saw too well that there was such a strong war spirit in both king and people, that no such thing was possible. He therefore
