IV. A GRACEFUL writer comments very forcibly on the phenomenon-unparalleled before or since-of Walpole's long lease of power. "He had it all his own way" says Mrs. Oliphant, "for twenty years. From being unanimous his Cabinet became dutiful, his colleagues yielded to his sway, or, as we have seen, were cast aside by his irresist ible influence. Even his failures did not affect him as other men's failures affected them. The whole country rose against his Excise Bill, yet he stood erect and firm, and the next day was strong and supreme as ever. Though English society was honeycombed by Jacobite plots; though it was still possible that such a man as Bishop Atterbury should be cut short in the midst of his career, impeached, and exiled as a traitor; though Dean Swift by his 'Drapier's Letters,' would lash Ireland into furious outcry against the project of a copper coinage; and though in Edinburgh the Porteous Mob set law and order at bold defiance; yet Walpole remained unshaken, ruling so wisely and so well that Great Britain was undisturbed by domestic rebellion or foreign enmity." A strong and wise rule, powerful to resist, yet knowing when to yield; a consistent home policy, in which everything gave way to the interest of the nation; while the as yet undeveloped doctrine of non-intervention abroad was pushed as far as was compatible with the temper of the time; a practical tolerance, in complete ACCESSION OF GEORGE THE SECOND. 95 yet silent contradiction to many intolerant and unchristian laws, which the Minister, while eluding them, was too judicious to awaken into life by any agitation for their repeal: such was the reign of Robert Walpole. But the reign was not wholly without danger of interruption. An occasional shadow secured him from that fatality of unbroken prosperity which Herodotus has indicated in his story of Polycrates of Samos and King Amasis. At the accession of George the 2nd it was generally supposed that the all-powerful Minister would be overthrown. With the new sovereign he was reported to be no favourite; in truth, the word "rogue had been applied to him by royal lips. When the news of the death of George the 1st, which took place at Osnabrück (June 10th, 1727), reached London, Walpole hastened to convey it to the heir-apparent. On arriving at Richmond Palace he found that the Prince, according to wont, had retired to enjoy an afternoon slumber. At the Minister's request he was awakened, and starting up, he entered the presence-chamber, half dressed. Sir Robert knelt and kissed his hand. At first the King would not believe the Minister's information, nor was he convinced until the ambassador's despatch was shown him. The question was then put, whom would his Majesty appoint to prepare the necessary declaration to the Privy Council? To Walpole's disappointment, for he expected that the choice would have fallen upon himself, the King named Sir Spencer Compton. Whereupon the baffled Minister withdrew. Sir Spencer Compton, a son of the Earl of North 96 WIFE VERSUS MISTRESS. ampton, and the Speaker of the House of Commons, had been much trusted and favoured by the King as Prince of Wales. He was a man of genial disposition and reputable character, but of no great parts. So unfitted was he for the post to which royal caprice had called him, that when Walpole apprised him of the King's commands, he entreated the Minister to draw up the declaration for him. Walpole, with his thorough knowledge of men, duly appreciated his rival's weakness, and said to his friend, Sir William Yonge, "I shall certainly go out, but let me advise you not to go into violent opposition, as we must soon come in again." The Hanoverian kings, on their accession to the throne, invariably acted on the principle of discarding their predecessor's advisers; but George the 2nd was ruled by his wife, and Queen Caroline thoroughly trusted Walpole. With his usual sagacity he had discovered her influence over the royal mind, and while his less discriminating rivals had paid their court to the mistress, the Countess of Suffolk, his homage had been given to the King's wife. She, on her part was too able a woman† not to understand the * The King, however, was under the impression that his judgment was unimpeachable, and that his will always prevailed. He laughed at monarchs who had been governed by their wives or mistresses. A contemporary balladist satirised this foible happily: 66 You may strut, dapper George, but 'twill all be in vain, We know 'tis Queen Caroline, not you that reign You govern no more than Don Philip of Spain. Lock up your fat spouse as your dad did before you." The allusion in the last line is to George the 1st's imprisonment of his consort, Sophia Dorothea of Zell. "Queen Caroline had been handsome in her youth, and to the last CHARACTER OF THE QUEEN. 97 extent of his popularity not to appreciate his administrative capacity. Probably she did not value it the less highly, because he offered to obtain for her from Parliament a jointure of £100,000 a year, while Compton was afraid to propose more than £60,000. The Queen showed at the earliest moment to which side her sympathies would be given. When Compton submitted to the King the speech which Walpole had prepared for him, a debate arose upon it in the Council, and Sir Spencer was again compelled to appeal to his predecessor. The Queen, a better judge (says Horace Walpole) than her husband of the capacities of the two men, having silently watched for a proper moment to retained great expression in her countenance, and sweetness in her smile. Her character was without a blemish, and her conduct always marked by judgment and good sense. During the violent quarrels between her husband and his father, she had behaved so prudently that she equally retained the affection of the first and the esteem of the latter. With the nation also she was more popular than any other member of her family tili George the Third. Her manner most happily combined the royal dignity with female grace, and her conversation was agreeable in all its varieties, from mimicry and repartee up to metaphysics. She was fond of talking on all learned subjects, and understood something of a few. Her toilet was a strange medley: prayers, and sometimes a sermon, were read; tattle and gossip succeeded; metaphysics found a place; the headdress was not forgotten; divines stood grouped with courtiers, and philosophers with ladies."-Earl Stanhope, History of England from the Peace of Utrecht,' ii. 171, 172. A fine sketch of the Queen's character will be found in Thackeray's 'Lectures on the Four Georges.' For details of her Court the reader is referred to Lord Hervey's Memoirs of the reign of George II.' Lord Hervey was one of the cleverest and most faithful of Walpole's partisans, and frequently replied with success to the attacks of the Craftsman. See also Dr. Doran's Lives of the Queens of Hanover.' VOL. I. 7 98 A BRIEF INTERREGNUM. overturn the new designations, lost no time in observing to the King how prejudicial it would be to his affairs to prefer a man in whose own judgment his predecessor was the fittest person to execute the office. On the day after the accession, when all the nobility and gentry in town crowded to kiss hands, and every back was turned on the fallen Minister, and every eye directed towards the new dispenser of patronage, Caroline singled out for special notice Lady Walpole, exclaiming, as she saw her rudely hustled and kept back by the throng, "There, I am sure I see a friend!" The interregnum lasted but a few days. Compton was not only unable to contend against the Queen's influence in the Cabinet, but he could not hope to oppose Walpole with any success in the House. Moreover, he felt that the burden of office was too heavy for him. He resigned, and, being gratified with the Earldom of Wilmington and the Presidency of the Council, sank into a contented obscurity. Thenceforward, until the death of Caroline, she and the Minister skilfully managed the honest, well-meaning, but obstinate and shallow-minded little King between them. No inconsiderable tact was necessary; for before all things, it was indispensable that he should not know he was governed. By careful study and long experience of his temper, Caroline knew, as Lord Hervey tells us, how to instil her own sentiments while she affected to receive his Majesty's. "She could appear convinced while she was controverting, and obedient while she was ruling; and by this means her dexterity and address made it impossible for any |