tiers of the Milanese; while the infant, Don Philip, at the head of a considerable corps, was preparing to penetrate through Dauphiné and Savoy, into Austrian Lombardy.

8

Maria Theresa, deserted by Russia and the United Provinces, and by all her allies, except Great Britain, quitted Vienna, which was preparing for a siege, took refuge at Presburg, and threw herself on the affection and zeal of her Hungarian subjects. Compelled by imperious necessity, she purchased the neutrality of Prussia, by the cession of lower Silesia. Her situation was truly deplorable, and her disasters rebounded on the minister. To his sinister auspices it was attributed that the constellation of the house of Bourbon seemed ascending to its zenith, and the stars of England and Austria declining towards the horizon.

CHAPTER 58,

1741.

Dissolution of Parliament-State of the Ministry-Walpole deserted or secretly thwarted by many of his former Friends-Successful Exertions of the Opposition-Westminster Election-Schism in the Cabinet-Coolness of the King-Neutrality of Hanover-Supineness of Walpole-Clamours against him.

ON the 25th of April, the king put an end to the last session of this parliament, in a speech from the throne, in which, after thanking them for the zeal with which they had supported the measures of government, he added, "I will immediately give the necessary orders for calling a new parliament. There is not any thing I set so high a value upon, as the love and affection of my people; in which I have so entire a confidence, that it is with great satisfaction, I see this opportunity put into their hands, of giving me fresh proofs of it, in the choice of their representatives."*

Writs were issued for electing a new house of commons, returnable the 25th of June.

On the expiration of the parliament commenced the struggle of the contending parties,

⚫ Journals, vol. 12. p. 337.

which was to terminate in the removal, or the firm establishment of Walpole.

Notwithstanding a strong remonstrance from the minister, the king embarked for his German dominions, on the 7th of May.

The minister was left in a precarious situation, to manage the elections, in the midst of an unsuccessful war, at variance with the majority of the cabinet, and with the general spirit of the nation against him; at a time when the fears of Jacobitism, and the dread of a popish Pretender, had begun to subside. In this emergency, betrayed by his pretended friends, deserted by those who ought to have supported him, deceived in imagining that the triumphant majority which had thrown out the motion to remove him, was an indication of the people's affection, or conceiving that a firm coalition between the Tories and disaffected Whigs, could not take place in time to oppose him, he abandoned himself to an inconsiderate security, and neglected to take his usual precautions.

The first great opposition to government took its rise in the city of Westminster, where the court was supposed to possess an unbounded influence. It had been usual for the electors to return the two members who were recommended by the crown. The representatives in the last parliament were, Sir Charles Wager, first lord of the admiralty, and lord Sundon, a lord of the treasury; and it was supposed that they would have been re-chosen as usual, without opposition. But lord Sundon was very unpopular. He had

been raised from a low condition to an Irish peerage, through the interest of his wife, who had been favourite bed-chamber woman to queen Caroline. The other candidate, Sir Charles Wager, was unexceptionable, both in his public and private character; but his attachment to the minister was a sufficient objection.

Some electors of Westminster proposed, very unexpectedly, admiral Vernon, then in the height of his popularity, and Mr. Edwin, a private gentleman of considerable fortune, whose wife, lady Charlotte, was lady of the bed-chamber to the princess of Wales. The opposition at first despised, became formidable; and Sir Charles Wager being summoned to convoy the king to Holland, the management of the election was entrusted to ignorant vestrymen and violent justices. The party in opposition to the court candidates became very tumultuous. The majority of the electors were decidedly in favour of the ministerial candidates; but lord Sundon was imprudently advised to close the poll, to order a party of guards to attend, and while the military power surrounded the hustings, the high bailiff returned him and Sir Charles Wager. This imprudent conduct highly exasperated the populace; the guards were insulted, Sundon was attacked, and narrowly escaped with life.

The example of the opposition at Westminster, diffused a general spirit throughout the kingdom, and violent contests were excited in all quarters. Large sums for supporting the expenses were subscribed by Pulteney, the duchess

of Marlborough, and the prince of Wales, * who contracted great debts on this memorable occasion; and the managers of opposition employed this money with great advantage. Lord Falmouth gained over many of the Cornish boroughs, which had usually returned the members recommended by the crown. The duke of Argyle exerted himself with such effect in Scotland, that he baffled all the efforts of his brother, the earl of Ilay, who had long managed the interest of the crown in that quarter; and the majority of Scottish members, who had formed a strong phalanx in favour of government, were now ranged on the contrary side. These acquisitions were considered by opposition as a sure omen of success; and Dodington, in a letter to the duke of Argyle, drew a comparative statement of the two sides, in the future parliament, highly unfavourable to the ministerial party. ↑ He justly observed, that a majority of sixteen, which was the utmost that the most sanguine friends of the minister could entertain hopes of forming at the commencement of the session, would soon become a minority. He laid down a plan of conduct and attack, which was wisely formed, and ably executed, the homogeneous parts were consolidated, and the whole phalanx, however divided and discordant in other respects, moved on uniformly to one great object, the removal of the minister.

Glover in his Posthumous Memoirs recently published, asserts, that he expended £.12,000 to carry the Westminster Election. Dodington to the duke of Argyle, June 18, 1741. Correspondence.