fall, that it was a dangerous thing to be a minister; that there were few minds which would not be injured by the constant spectacle of meanness and depravity. To his honour, it must be confessed, that few minds have come out of such a trial so little damaged in the most important parts. He retired, after more than twenty years of power, with a temper not soured, with a heart not hardened, with simple tastes, with frank manners, and with a capacity for friendship. No stain of treachery, of ingratitude, or of cruelty rests on his memory. Factious hatred, while flinging on his name every other foul aspersion, was compelled to own that he was not a man of blood. This would scarcely seem a high eulogium on a statesman of our times. It was then a rare and honourable distinction. The contest of parties in England had long been carried on with a ferocity unworthy of a civilized people. | Sir Robert Walpole was the minister who gave to our government that character of lenity which it has since generally preserved. It was perfectly known to him that many of his opponents had dealings with the Pretender. The lives of some were at his mercy. He wanted neither Whig nor Tory precedents for using his advantage unsparingly. But, with a clemency to which posterity has never done justice, he suffered himself to be thwarted, vilified, and at last overthrown, by a party which included many men whose necks were in his power.

That he practised corruption on a large scale is, we think, indisputable. But whether he deserved all the invectives which have been uttered against him on that account, may be questioned. No man ought to be severely censured for not being beyond his age in virtue. To buy the votes of constituents is as immoral as to buy the votes of representatives. The candidate who gives five guineas to the freeman is as culpable as the man who gives three hundred guineas to the member. Yet we know that, in our own time, no man is thought wicked or dishonourable, no man is cut, no man is black-balled, because, under the old system of election, he was returned, in the only way in which he could be returned, for East Retford, for Liverpool, or for Stafford. Walpole governed by corruption, because, in his time, it was impossible to govern otherwise. Corruption was unnecessary to the Tudors for their Parliaments were feeble. The publicity which has of late years been given to parliamentary proceedings has raised the standard of morality among public men. The power of public opinion is so great, that, even before the reform of the representation, a faint suspicion that a minister had given pecuniary gratifications to members of Parliament in return for their votes, would have been enough to ruin him. But, during the century which followed the restoration, the House of Commons was in that situation in which assemblies must be managed by corruption, or cannot be managed at all. It was not held in awe, as in the sixteenth century, by the throne. It was not held in awe, as In the nineteenth century, by the opinion of the

people. Its constitution was oligarchical. Its deliberations were secret. Its power in the state was immense. The government had every conceivable motive to offer bribes. Many of the members, if they were not men of strict honour and probity, had no conceivable motive to refuse what the government offered. In the reign of Charles the Second, accordingly, the practice of buying votes in the House of Commons was commenced by the daring Clifford, and carried to a great extent by the crafty and shameless Danby. The Revolution, great and manifold as were the blessings of which it was directly or remotely the cause, at first aggra vated this evil. The importance of the House of Commons was now greater than ever. The prerogatives of the crown were more strictly limited than ever, and those associations in which, more than in its legal prerogatives, its power had consisted, were completely broken. No prince was ever in so helpless, so distressing a situation as William the Third. The party which defended his title was, on general grounds, disposed to curtail his prerogative. The party which was, on general grounds, friendly to the prerogative, was adverse to his title. There was no quarter in which both his office and his person could find favour. But while the influence of the House of Commons in the government was becoming paramount, the influence of the people over the House of Commons was declining. It mattered little in the time of Charles the First, whether that House were or were not chosen by the people, it was certain to act for the people; because it would have been at the mercy of the court, but for the support of the people. Now that the court was at the mercy of the House of Commons, that large body of members who were not returned by popular election had nobody to please but themselves. Even those who were returned by popular election did not live, as now, under a constant sense of responsibility. The constituents were not, as now, daily apprized of the votes and speeches of their representatives. The privileges which had, in old times, been indispensably necessary to the security and efficiency of Parliaments, were now superfluous. But they were still carefully maintained; by honest legislators, from superstitious vene ration; by dishonest legislators, for their own selfish ends. They had been a useful defence to the Commons during a long and doubtful conflict with powerful sovereigns. They were now no longer necessary for that purpose; and they became a defence to the members against their constituents. That secresy which had been absolutely necessary in times when the Privy Council was in the habit of sending the leaders of opposition to the Tower, was preserved in times when a vote of the House of Commons was sufficient to hurl the most powerful minister from his post.

The government could not go on unless the Parliament could be kept in order. And how was the Parliament to be kept in order? Three hundred years ago it would have been enough for a statesman to have the support of the crown. It would now, we hope and believe, be enough for him to enjoy the confidence

father, who had charged with Rupert at Marston, who had held out the old manor-house against Fairfax, and who, after the king's return, had been set down for a Knight of the Royal Oak, flew to that section of the opposi tion which, under pretence of assailing the existing administration, was in truth assailing

there was no just ground, and by which nothing was to be got; or of facing a violent opposition in the country, in Parliament, and even in the royal closet. No person was more thoroughly convinced than he of the absurdity of the cry against Spain. But his darling power was at stake, and his choice was soon made. He preferred an unjust war to a stormy the reigning dynasty. The young republican, session. It is impossible to say of a minister | who acted thus, that the love of peace was the one grand principle to which all his conduct is to be referred. The governing principle of his conduct was neither love of peace nor love of war, but love of power.

The praise to which he is fairly entitled is this, that he understood the true interest of his country better than any of his contemporaries, and that he pursued that interest whenever it was not incompatible with the interest of his own intense and grasping ambition. It was only in matters of public moment that he shrunk from agitation, and had recourse to compromise. In his contest for personal influence there was no timidity, nor flinching. He would have all or none. Every member of the government who would not submit to his ascendency was turned out or forced to resign. Liberal of every thing else, he was avaricious of nothing but power. Cautious everywhere else, when power was at stake, he had all the boldness of Wolsey or Chatham. He might easily have secured his authority if he could have been induced to divide it with others. But he would not part with one fragment of it to purchase defenders for all the rest. The effect of this policy was, that he had able enemies and feeble allies. His most distinguished coadjutors left him one by one, and joined the ranks of the opposition. He faced the increasing array of his enemies with unbroken spirit, and thought it far better that they should inveigh against his power than that they should share it.

fresh from his Livy and his Lucan, and flowing with admiration of Hampden, of Russell, and of Sydney, hastened with equal eagerness to those benches from which eloquent voices thundered nightly against the tyranny and perfidy of courts.

were caught by these declarations, that Sir RoSo many young politicians bert, in one of his best speeches, observed, that the opposition against him consisted of three bodies-the Tories, the discontented Whigs, who were known by the name of the patriots, and the boys.

of warm temper and lively imagination, whatIn fact, every young man ever his political bias might be, was drawn into the party adverse to the government; and some of the most distinguished among themPitt, for example, among public men, and Johnson, among men of letters—afterwards openly acknowledged their mistake.

was still a minority in the House of Commons, The aspect of the opposition, even while it was very imposing. Among those who, in Parliament or out of Parliament, assailed the administration of Walpole, were Bolingbroke, Carteret, Chesterfield, Argyle, Pulteney, Wyndham, Doddington, Pitt, Lyttleton, Barnard, Pope, Swift,Gay, Arbuthnot, Fielding, Johnson, Thomson, Akenside, Glover.

divided into two parties, diametrically opposed The circumstance that the opposition was to each other in political opinions, was long the safety of Walpole. It was at last his ruin. The leaders of the minority knew that it would be difficult for them to bring forward any imThe opposition was in every sense formida-portant measure, without producing an imme ble. At its head were two royal personages,diate schism in their party. It was with very the exiled head of the house of Stuart, the disgraced heir of the house of Brunswick. One set of members received directions from Avignon. Another set held their consultations and banquets at Norfolk House. The majority of the landed gentry, the majority of the parochial clergy, one of the universities, and a strong party in the city of London, and in the other great towns, were decidedly averse to the government. Of the men of letters, some were exasperated by the neglect with which the minister treated them-a neglect which was the more remarkable, because his predecessors, both Whig and Tory, had paid court, with emulous munificence, to the wits and the poets; others were honestly inflamed by party zeal; almost all lent their aid to the opposition. In truth, all that was alluring to ardent and imaginative minds was on that side:-old associations, new visions of political improvement, high-flown theories of loyalty, high-flown theories of liberty, the enthusiasm of the Cavalier, the enthusiasm of the Roundhead. The Tory gentlemar, fed in the common-rooms of Oxford with the doctrines of Filmer and Sacheverell, and proud of the exploits of his great-grand

great difficulty that the Whigs in opposition had been induced to give a sullen and silent vote for the repeal of the Septennial Act. The Tories, on the other hand, could not be induced to support Pulteney's motion for an addition to the income of Prince Frederic. The two parties had cordially joined in calling out for a war with Spain: but they had now their war. Hatred of Walpole was almost the only feeling which was common to them. On this one point, therefore, they concentrated their whole strength. With gross ignorance, or gross dishonesty, they represented the minister as the main grievance of the state. his punishment, would prove the certain cure His dismissal, for all the evils which the nation suffered. What was to be done after his fall, how misgovernment was to be prevented in future, were questions to which there were as many answers as there were noisy and ill-informed members of the opposition. The only cry in which all could join was, "Down with Walpole !" So much did they narrow the disputed grounds, so purely personal did they make the question, that they threw out friendly hints to the other members of the administration, and

declared that they refused quarter to the prime | Walpole was to be the beginning of a political
minister alone. His tools might keep their millennium; and every enthusiast had figured
heads, their fortunes, even their places, if only to himself that millennium according to the
the great father of corruption were given up to
the just vengeance of the nation.

If the fate of Walpole's colleagues had been inseparably bound up with his, he probably would, even after the unfavourable elections of 1741, have been able to weather the storm. But as soon as it was understood that the attack was directed against him alone, and that, if he were sacrificed, his associates might expect advantageous and honourable terms, the ministerial ranks began to waver, and the murmur of sauve qui peut was heard. That Walpole had foul play is almost certain: but to what extent it is difficult to say. Lord Islay was suspected; the Duke of Newcastle some thing more than suspected. It would have been strange, indeed, if his grace had been idle when treason was hatching.

"Che Gan fu traditor prima che nato." "His name," said Sir Robert, "is perfidy."

Never was a battle more manfully fought cut than the last struggle of the old statesman. His clear judgment, his long experience, and his fearless spirit, enabled him to maintain a defensive war through half a session. To the last his heart never failed him; and, when at length he yielded, he yielded, not to the threats of his enemies, but to the entreaties of his dispirited and refractory followers. When he could no longer retain his power, he compounded for honour and security, and retired to his garden and his paintings, leaving to those who had overthrown him-shame, discord, and ruin.

fashion of his own wishes. The republican
expected that the power of the crown would
be reduced to a mere shadow; the high Tory
that the Stuarts would be restored; the mode
rate Tory that the golden days which the
church and the landed interest had enjoyed
during the last years of Queen Anne, would
immediately return. It would have been im-
possible to satisfy everybody. The conquerors
satisfied nobody.

We have no reverence for the memory of
those who were then called the patriots. We
are for the principles of good government
against Walpole; and for Walpole against the
opposition. It was most desirable that a purer
system should be introduced; but if the old
system was to be retained, no man was so fit
as Walpole to be at the head of affairs. There
were frightful abuses in the government,
abuses more than sufficient to justify a strong
opposition; but the party opposed to Walpole,
while they stimulated the popular fury to the
highest point, were at no pains to direct it
aright. Indeed, they studiously misdirected it.
They misrepresented the evil. They pre-
scribed inefficient and pernicious remedies.
They held up a single man as the sole cause
of all the vices of a bad system, which had
been in full operation before his entrance into
public life, and which continued to be in full
operation when some of these very bawlers
had succeeded to his power. They thwarted
his best measures. They drove him into an
unjustifiable war against his will. Constantly
Every thing was in confusion. It has been talking in magnificent language about tyranny,
said that the confusion was produced by the corruption, wicked ministers, servile courtiers,
dexterous policy of Walpole; and undoubtedly, the liberties of Englishmen, the Great Charter,
he did his best to sow dissensions amongst his the rights for which our fathers bled-Timo-
triumphant enemies. But there was little for leon, Brutus, Hampden, Sydney-they had
him to do. Victory had completely dissolved absolutely nothing to propose which would
the hollow truce which the two sections of the have been an improvement on our institutions.
opposition had but imperfectly observed, even Instead of directing the public mind to definite
while the event of the contest was still doubt-reforms, which might have completed the
ful. A thousand questions were opened in a
moment. A thousand conflicting claims were
preferred. It was impossible to follow any
line of policy, which would not have been of-
fensive to a large portion of the successful
party. It was impossible to find places for a
tenth part of those who thought that they had
a right to be considered. While the parlia-
mentary leaders were preaching patience and
confidence, while their followers were clamor-
ing for reward, a still louder voice was heard
from without the terrible cry of a people
angry, they hardly knew with whom, and im-
patient, they hardly knew for what. The day
of retribution had arrived. The opposition
reaped what they had sown: inflamed with
hatred and cupidity, despairing of success by
any ordinary mode of political warfare, and
blind to consequences which, though remote,
were certain, they had conjured up a devil
which they could not lay. They had made the
public mind drunk with calumny and declama-
tion. They had raised expectations which it
was impossible to satisfy. The downfall of

work of the Revolution, which might have
brought the legislature into harmony with the
nation, and which might have prevented the
crown from doing by influence what it could
no longer do by prerogative, they excited a
vague craving for change, by which they pro-
fited for a single moment, and of which, as
they well deserved, they were soon the victims.

Among the reforms which the state then
required, there were two of paramount im-
portance, two which would alone have reme
died almost every abuse, and without which
all other remedies would have been unavail-
ing-the publicity of parliamentary proceed-
ings, and the abolition of the rotten boroughs.
Neither of these was thought of. It seems to
us clear, that if these were not adopted, ali
other measures would have been illusory.
Some of the patriots suggested changes which
would, beyond all doubt, have increased thu
existing evils a hundredfold.
These men
wished to transfer the disposal of employ
ments, and the command of the army, from
the crown to the Parliament; and this on the

1

very ground that the Parliament had long uncompromising of the young patriots out of been a grossly corrupt body. The security against corruption was to be, that the memhers, instead of having a portion of the public plunder doled out to them by a minister, were to help themselves.

Parliament. When he found that the change
of administration had produced no change of
system, he gave vent to his indignation in the
"Epistle to Curio," the best poem that he ever
wrote; a poem, indeed, which seems to indi-
cate, that, if he had left lyric composition to
Gray and Collins, and had employed his pow-
ers in grave and elevated satire, he might
have disputed the pre-eminence of Dryden.
But whatever be the literary merits of the
epistle, we can say nothing in praise of the
political doctrines which it inculcates. The
poet, in a rapturous apostrophe to the Spirits
of the Great Men of Antiquity, tells us what
he expected from Pulteney at the moment of
the fall of the tyrant.

"See private life by wisest arts reclaimed,
See ardent youth to noblest manners framed,
See us achieve whate'er was sought by you,
If Curio, only Curio, will be true."

It was Pulteney's business, it seems, to abolish faro and masquerades, to stint the young Duke of Marlborough to a bottle of brandy a day, and to prevail on Lady Vane to be content with three lovers at a time.

The other schemes, of which the public mind was full, were less dangerous than this. Some of them were in themselves harmless. But none of them would have done much good, and most of them were extravagantly absurd. What they were we may learn from the instructions which many constituent bodies, immediately after the change of administration, sent up to their representatives. A more deplorable collection of follies can hardly be imagined. There is, in the first place, a general cry for Walpole's head. Then there are bitter complaints of the decay of trade-decay which, in the judgment of those enlightened politicians, was all brought about by Walpole and corruption. They would have been nearer to the truth, if they had attributed their sufferings to the war into which they had driven Walpole against his better judgment. He had foretold the effects of his unwilling concession. On the day when hostilities against Spain were proclaimed, when the heralds were Whatever the people wanted, they certainly attended into the city by the chiefs of the op- got nothing. Walpole retired in safety, and position, when the Prince of Wales himself the multitude were defrauded of the expected stopped at Temple-Bar to drink success to the show on Tower Hill. The Septennial Act was English arms, the minister heard all the stee- not repealed. The placemen were not turned ples of the city jingling with a merry peal, and out of the House of Commons. Wool, we muttered: " They may ring the bells now: believe, was still exported. "Private life" they will be wringing their hands before long." afforded as much scandal as if the reign of Another grievance, for which of cours Walpole and corruption had continued; and Walpole and corruption were answerable, was" ardent youth" fought with watchmen, and the great exportation of English wool. In the judgment of the sagacious electors of several The colleagues of Walpole had, after his relarge towns, the remedying of this evil was a treat, admitted some of the chiefs of the oppomatter second only in importance to the hang-sition into the government. They soon found ing of Sir Robert. There are also earnest themselves compelled to submit to the ascendinjunctions on the members to veto against ency of one of their new allies. This was standing armies in time of peace; injunctions Lord Carteret, afterwards Earl Granville. No which were, to say the least, ridiculously un-public man of that age had greater courage, reasonable in the midst of a war which was likely to last, and which did actually last, as long as the Parliament. The repeal of the Septennial Act, as was to be expected, was strongly pressed. Nothing was more natural than that the voters should wish for a triennial recurrence of their bribes and their ale. We feel firmly convinced that the repeal of the Septennial Act, unaccompanied by a complete reform of the constitution of the elective body, would have been an unmixed curse to the country. The only rational recommendation which we can find in all these instructions is, that the number of placemen in Parliament should be limited, and that pensioners should not be allowed to sit there. It is plain, how ever, that this reform was far from going to the root of the evil; and that, if it had been adopt ed, the consequence would probably have been, that secret bribery would have been more practised than ever.

We will give one more instance of the absard expectations which the declamations of the opposition had raised in the country. Akenside was one of the fiercest and most

betted with blacklegs as much as ever.

greater ambition, greater activity, greater talents for debate or for declamation. No public man had such profound and extensive learning. He was familiar with the ancient writers. His knowledge of modern languages was prodigious. The Privy Council, when he was present, needed no interpreter. He spoke and wrote French, Italian, Spanish, Portu guese, German, even Swedish. He had pushed his researches into the most obscure nooks of literature. He was as familiar with canonists and schoolmen as with orators and poets. He had read all that the universities of Saxony and Holland had produced on the most intricate questions of public law. Harte, in the preface to the second edition of the "History of Gustavus Adolphus," bears a remarkable testimony to the extent and accuracy of Lord Carteret's knowledge. "It was my good for tune or prudence to keep the main body of my army (or in other words my matters of fact) safe and entire. The late Earl of Gran ville was pleased to declare himself of this opinion; especially when he found that I had made Chemnitius one of my principal guides;