much as the "thorough Shippen." The king very properly declared that he would not employ the most daring enemies of his family, but should feel bound to promote and encourage those who had maintained the rights of the house of Brunswick. This again roused the duke of Argyll, who, in the house of lords, made the most severe strictures on this rejection, and he was supported in both houses by the tories, who were furious with indignation at the rejection of one of their party, which was significant for all. The duke of Argyll, it was fully seen, had, not, with all his appointments, reached the height of his ambition, and it was correctly augured that he would not long continue in office.
The prince of Wales and all the leaders of the late opposition now appeared again at court; but it was observed that the king received the prince very coolly, merely saying that he hoped the princess was well, allowing him to kiss hands, and then taking no further notice of him. The prince was not long in showing his discontent: he again absented himself from court, and began to cry down the administration which he had helped to form. The cabinet itself did not exhibit much sign of vigour. Wilmington remained the same feeble creature that he had felt himself to be as Sir Spencer Compton, and Pulteney, who had been expected to form a patriot cabinet, and take the lead in it in a career of necessary reform, was regarded with universal scorn and aversion. From the most popular man in the country he had sunk at once into the most despised. Instead of being followed, as he had been for years, by applause, when he appeared abroad he was hissed and hooted. He was regarded as a traitor to the highest principles for the mere empty honour of a peerage; and to have received those honours as the wages of iniquity which he might have had as the reward of virtue. It was believed that Walpole had artfully betrayed him into this false step, and thus taken full revenge on him for his long and final persecution of him. When they first met in the house of lords, he said to his old antagonist, "Sly lord Bath, you and I are now two as insignificant men as any in England." But Walpole felt that this was true only of Pulteney. For himself, he might be said to have passed into the house of lords as a natural transition—as the natural result, at the close of a long life of public services in accordance with his principles, and was to the end as much considered as ever, and still consulted in difficult circumstances, by ministers. According to Chesterfield, the nation looked upon Pulteney as a deserter, and he shrunk into insignificance and an earldom.
The new ministry were now to find that it is a very difficult position to maintain, when they have to perpetuate principles and measures which they have for a quarter of a century been condemning, simply because they furnished weapons of annoyance to the party in power. They were now eagerly called upon to undo all that they had condemned in the administration of Walpole. Petitions were poured in by the merchants of London, Bristol, Liverpool, Glasgow, and almost all the larger towns in the kingdom, complaining of the miserable management of the war, and of their losses in consequence. It was alleged by Mr. Glover, a member for the city of London, upon an examination of a great mass of papers, and the examination of numerous witnesses, that the war had been carried on, not through negligence, but by a fixed and uniform design to expose the commerce of Great Britain to the insults and rapine of the Spaniards. A bill was framed on the basis of this monstrous assertion, and actually passed through the commons, but was thrown out in the lords, where Walpole was present, to expose its malice and absurdity. The pension bill was next revived, and Carteret voted against it, having on so many former occasions warmly supported it.
The public, still smarting under the ruinous mismanagement of the war, returned to the charge, by demanding an inquiry into the conduct of Walpole, whom they accused of their sufferings, though he had so long and vigorously resisted the insane cry for this war, and though it had been urged on him by the very men now in power. These petitions were introduced and recommended by what were called the boy-patriots—Pitt, Granville, Lyttleton, and the rest. As a means of popularity, they insisted on the standing army being abolished in time of peace, on the strict limitation of placemen in parliament, and on the return to triennial parliaments. These were hard topics for the patriots now in power to digest. But the depression of trade continued, and no one could suggest a remedy but that of reducing taxation at the very time that all parties were zealous for the prosecution of the war. Finding no other solution to their difficulties, the public turned again to the demand of an inquiry into the administration of Walpole, hoping to lay bare, in that, the causes of their sufferings. The people of Westminster demanded whether such a man was to be permitted to retire without scrutiny into the enjoyment of private tranquility. Accordingly, on the 9th of March, lord Limerick moved for a secret committee to inquire into the administration of affairs by Sir Robert Walpole for the last twenty years. He was seconded by Sir John St. Aubyn, and supported by Pitt, lord Perceval, the new member for Westminster, and that section of the young patriots, and eagerly by the tories. It was vigorously opposed by Mr. Pelham, Sir Charles Wager, and Mr. Henry Fox, surveyor-general, and brother of lord Ilchester. Pulteney was not present, being in attendance on a dying daughter; but he had so plainly expressed his aversion to pursuing vindictively the fallen minister, that his party voted against it, and it was thrown out, but merely by two votes, in a house of four hundred and eighty-six members. When Pulteney took his place in the house again, the defeated party upbraided him with his apathy in the cause, and then the world saw this great patriot, who had so lately declared his wish to leave the late minister unmolested, actually encouraging lord Limerick to renew the motion in an altered form, so as to comply with the forms of the house. Accordingly, lord Limerick, on the 23rd of March, rose and proposed a committee to inquire into the administration of Walpole, not for twenty, but for the ten last years. Pulteney not only voted, but spoke in favour of this motion, and it was carried by a majority of seven. Having let loose the parliamentary hounds on the ex-minister, Pulteney excused himself from being on the committee, but recommended moderation and fair play. These qualities were just the last which, in the temper of the
