The Impeachment of the House of Brunswick. Bradlaugh Charles
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Название: The Impeachment of the House of Brunswick

Автор: Bradlaugh Charles

Издательство: Public Domain

Жанр: Зарубежная классика

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СКАЧАТЬ 1742, under the opposition of Pulteney, the Tories called upon Paxton, the Solicitor to the Treasury, and Scrope, the Secretary to the Treasury, to account for the specific sum of £1,147,211, which it was proved they had received from the minister. No account was ever furnished. George Vaughan, a confidant of Sir Robert Walpole, was examined before the Commons as to a practice charged upon that minister, of obliging the possessor of a place or office to pay a certain sum out of the profits of it to some person or persons recommended by the minister. Vaughan, who does not appear to have ventured any direct denial, managed to avoid giving a categorical reply, and to get excused from answering on the ground that he might criminate himself. Agitation was commenced for the revival of Triennial Parliaments, for the renewal of the clause of the Act of Settlement, by which pensioners and placemen were excluded from the House of Commons, and for the abolition of standing armies in time of peace. The Whigs, however, successfully crushed out the whole of this agitation. Strong language was heard in the House of Commons, where Sir James Dashwood said that "it was no wonder that the people were then unwilling to support the Government, when a weak, narrow-minded prince occupied the throne."

      A very amusing squib appeared in 1742, when Sir Robert Walpole's power was giving way, partly under the bold attacks of the Tories, led by Cotton and Shippen; partly before the malcontent Whigs under the guidance of Carteret and Pulteney; partly before the rising power of the young England party led by William Pitt; and somewhat from the jealousy, if not treachery, of his colleague, the Duke of Newcastle. The squib pictures the King's embarrassment and anger at being forced to dismiss Walpole, and to Carteret, whom he has charged to form a ministry: —

           "Quoth the King:

           'My good lord, perhaps you've been told

           That I used to abuse you a little of old,

           But now bring whom you will, and eke turn away,

           Let but me and my money at Walmoden stay."

      Lord Carteret, explaining to the King whom he shall keep of the old ministry, includes the Duke of Newcastle: —

           "Though Newcastle's false, as he's silly I know,

           By betraying old Robin to me long ago,

           As well as all those who employed him before,

           Yet I leave him in place, but I leave him no power.

           "For granting his heart is as black as his hat,

           With no more truth in this than there's sense beneath that,

           Yet, as he's a coward, he'll shake when I frown;

           You called him a rascal, I'll use him like one.

           "For your foreign affairs, howe'er they turn out,

           At least I'll take care you shall make a great rout;

           Then cock your great hat, strut, bounce, and look bluff,

           For, though kick'd and cuff'd here, you shall there kick and cuff

           "That Walpole did nothing they all used to say,

           So I'll do enough, but I'll make the dogs pay;

           Great-fleets I'll provide, and great armies engage,

           Whate'er debts we make, or whate'er wars we wage!

           "With cordials like these the monarch's new guest

           Reviv'd his sunk spirits, and gladdened his breast;

           Till in rapture he cried, 'My dear Lord, you shall do

           Whatever you will – give me troops to review.'"

      In 1743, King George II. actually tried to engage this country, by a private agreement, to pay £300,000 a year to the Queen of Hungary, "as long as war should continue, or the necessity of her affairs should require." #The King, being in Hanover, sent over the treaty to England, with a warrant directing the Lords Justices to "ratify and confirm it," which, however, they refused to do. On hearing that the Lord Chancellor refused to sanction the arrangement, King George H. threatened, through Earl Granvillie, to affix the Great Seal with his own hand. Ultimately the £300,000 per annum was agreed to be paid so long as the war lasted, but this sum was in more than one instance exceeded.

      Although George II. had induced the country to vote such large sums to Maria Therese, the Empress-Queen, he nevertheless abandoned her in a most cowardly manner when he thought his Hanoverian dominions in danger, and actually treated with France without the knowledge or consent of his ministry. A rhyming squib, in which the King is termed the "Balancing Captain," from which we present the following extracts, will serve to show the feeling widely manifested in England at that time: —

           "I'll tell you a story as strange as 'tis new,

           Which all who're concerned will allow to be true,

           Of a Balancing Captain, well known hereabouts,

           Returned home (God save him) a mere king of clouts.

           "This Captain he takes in a gold ballasted ship,

           Each summer to terra damnosa a trip,

           For which he begs, borrows, scrapes all he can get,

           And runs his poor owners most vilely in debt.

           "The last time he set out for this blessed place,

           He met them, and told them a most piteous case,

           Of a sister of his, who, though bred up at court,

           Was ready to perish for want of support.

           "This Hung'ry sister he then did pretend,

           Would be to his owners a notable friend,

           If they would at that critical juncture supply her;

           They did – but, alas! all the fat's in the fire!"

      The ballad then suggests that the King, having got all the money possible, made a peace with the enemies of the Queen of Hungary, described in the ballad as the sister: —

           "He then turns his sister adrift, and declares

           Her most mortal foes were her father's right heirs:

           'G – d z – ds!' cries the world, 'such a step was ne'er taken!'

           'Oh, oh!' says Moll Bluff, 'I have saved my own bacon.

           "'Let France damn the Germans, and undamn the Dutch,

           And Spain on old England pish ever so much;

           Let Russia bang Sweden, or Sweden bang that,

           I care not, by Robert, one kick of my hat!

           "'Or should my chous'd owners begin to look sour,

           I'll  trust to mate Bob to exert his old power,

           Regit animos dictis, or numis with ease

           So, spite of your growling, I'll act as I please!'"

      The British Nation, described as the owners, are cautioned to look into the accounts of their Captain, who is bringing them to insolvency: —

           "This secret, however, must out on the day

           When he meets his poor owners to ask for his pay;

           And I fear, СКАЧАТЬ