1711-12. refolved to put out of the way of difturbing them in the houfe. The charge against him was thus: Mr. Walpole, as fecretary of war, had contracted with fome perfons for forage to the horse that lay in Scotland. He, finding the contractors made fome gain by it, named a friend of his own to be joined with them, that he might have a fhare of the gain but the others were unwilling the fecret of their management fhould be known; fo, inftead of admitting him, offered him five hundred guineas for his fhare, which he accepted, and the money was remitted. But the contractors, not knowing how to direct to him, addreffed their bill to Mr. Walpole, who endorsed it, and the person concerned received the money. This was found out, and Walpole was charged with it as a bribe, that he had taken for his own use, for making the contract. Both the perfons that remitted the money, and he who received it, were examined, and affirmed, that Walpole was neither directly nor indirectly concerned in the matter; but the house infifted upon his having endorsed the bill, and not only voted this a corruption, but fent him to the Tower, and expelled him the house, Not content with this, when Mr. Walpole was afterwards chofen again for Lynn Regis, the commons, upon a petition against his election, refolved, That Robert Walpole, efq; having been, this feffion of parliament, committed a prifoner to the Tower of London, and expelled this house, for an high breach of trust in the execution of his office, and notorious corruption when secretary ▾ of war, was, and is incapable of being elected a member to ferve in this present parliament.' (f) (f) This proceeding against him was examined in the Poftfcript to the fecond edition of Mr. Walpole's Cafe in a letter ❝ from a Tory Member of Parlia⚫ment to his friend in the country.' The author of this piece confiders, Whether Mr. Walpole was, at the time of his election, incapable of being elected a ⚫ member to ferve in parliament; ⚫ and if he was capable, how far a fecond expulfion was juft and reasonable and then fhews, that fuch an incapacity cannot arife either from the tenour and The words of the writ, nor from Mr. Walpole's being a prifoner in the Tower, nor from his having been expelled the house. And, upon the whole, he declares, that if Mr. Walpole was to be tried by the law of the land, or by the law and ufage of parliament, or by any known rules of reafon and juftice, there was no ⚫ foundation to declare, that he ' was incapable of being elected a member to ferve in the pre⚫ fent parliament: and that it 'will be thought an hardship of the first impreffion, that for a ⚫ flight The cenfure put on the Marlbo rough. The next attack was on the duke of Marlborough. 1711-12. On the 24th of January, his affair was debated. The money received from Sir Solomon Medina was faid to be a fraud, and the deduction out of the pay of the foreign troops duke of was faid to be public money, and to be accounted for. The debate held long. It appeared, that, during the former Pr. H. C. war, king William had fifty thousand pounds a year for con- Burnet. tingencies; which were often reckoned to have coft much more. The contingency was that fervice, which could be brought to no certain head, and was chiefly for procuring intelligence. The duke of Marlborough had only ten. thousand pounds for the contingencies; which, with all the other items joined together, amounted but to thirty thoufand pounds; a fum much inferior to what had been formerly given and yet, with this moderate expence, he had procured fo good intelligence, that he was never surprized, and no party he fent out was ever intercepted or cut off. By means of this intelligence, all his defigns were so well concerted, that he fucceeded in every one of them; and, by many inftances, the exactnefs of his intelligence was fully demonftrated. It was proved, both by witneffes, and by formal atteftations from Holland, that, ever fince the year 1672, the Jews had made the like prefent to the general of the ftates army; and it was understood as a perquifite belonging to that command. No bargain was made with the Jews for the English troops, that made by the ftates being applied to them; so that it appeared, that the making fuch a prefent to the general was customary; but that was denied. So it was refolved at laft by two hundred and seventy voices against a hundred and fixty-five, That the_taking several fums of money annually, by the duke of Marlborough from the contractors for furnishing the bread and bread-waggons for the army in the Low-Countries was unwarrantable and illegal. After which, tho' the duke had the queen's warrant to receive it, they also voted, that the two and a half per cent. deducted out of the pay of the foreign troops was unwarrantable, and to be accounted for. These refolutions being laid before the queen, fhe answered, I have a great regard for whatever is prefented to me by my commons, and will do my part to re 454 7711-12. Marlbo rough. Burnet, drefs what you complain of. To colour this censure, the commons voted, That the two and a half per cent. which • had, or ought to have been made from the pay for foreign 'forces, be continued for the year 1712, and applied for the service of the war.' And it is obfervable, that though fome of the foreign princes, who had troops in the queen's pay, did fome time after order their minifters in London to reprefent, that the two and a half per cent. was their own money, but they were willing to allow it as a free gift to the duke of Ormond, as they had done to the duke of Marlborough ;' which representation feemed to be a full juftification of the latter, The queen however was prevailed upon to fend an order to the attorney-general to profecute the duke for the fifteen thoufand pounds, which was deducted yearly out of the pay of the foreign troops, for the receiving whereof he had her own warrant. Many liThe court efpoused these resolutions of the commons bels against with great zeal, and paid well for the great majority by the duke of which they were carried. Upon this, many virulent writers (whether fet on to it, or officiously studying to merit by it, did not appear) threw out, in many defamatory libels, a great deal of malice agaiuft the duke of Marlborough: they compared him to Cataline, to Craffus, to Antony, and ftudied to represent him as a robber of the nation, and as a public enemy. This gave indignation to all who had a fense of gratitude, or a regard to justice. In one of these fcurrilous papers, penned on design to raise the rabble against him, a period began thus, He was perhaps once fortunate.' By Burnet. This paffage being mentioned to prince Eugene, he pleafantly faid, it was the greatest commendation could be given him, fince he was always fuccessful: fo this implied, that in one fingle instance he might be fortunate, but that all his other fucceffes were owing to his conduct. It was answered, that fingle inftance must then be, his escaping out of the hands of the party, who took him as he was going down the Maese in a boat (g). Secret So flagrant is thy infolence, • Sovile thy breach of truft is, "That longer with thee to difpenfe, Were want of power, orwant of fense: Here, Towzer,- Do him juftice.' . His innocence ap Burnet. Secret inquiries were made, in order to the laying more 1711-12. load on the duke of Marlborough, and to fee whether pofts in the army, or in the guards, were fold by him; but nothing could be found. He had fuffered a practice to go on, peared evithat had been begun in the late king's time, of letting of- dently. ficers fell their commiffions; but he had never taken any part of the price to himself. Few thought that he had been fo clear in that matter; for it was the only thing, in which now his enemies were confident, that some discoveries would have been made to his prejudice: fo that the endeavours used to search into thofe matters, producing nothing, raised the reputation of his incorrupt adminiftration, more than all his well-wishers could have expected. In this whole tranfaction was seen a new scene of ingratitude, acted in a most imprudent manner; when the man, to whom the nation owed more than it had ever done, in any age, to any subject, or perhaps to any person whatever, was, for fome months, purfued with fo much malice. He bore all with filence and patience, appearing always calm and chearful: and, though he prepared a full vindication of himfelf, yet he delayed publishing it, till the nation should return to its senses, and be capable of examining those matters in a more impartial manner. Burnet. Another affair of a more public nature was now taken The barrier into confideration by the commons, namely, the barrier treaty. treaty with the states. Both houfes had, in the year 1709, agreed in an addrefs to the queen, that the proteftant fucceffion might be fecured by a guaranty in the treaty of It is no wonder the duke of Marlborough was thus used, fince the earl of Nottingham himself did not escape for oppofing the negotiations of peace. It was not only faid that he did fo, be wicked perfons to follow ill • courfes: These are to give notice, That whoever fhall dif cover him, fhall have ten fhillings reward; or, if he will voluntarily return, he shall be cause he was refufed the privy-kindly received by his friends, who will not reproach him for paft follies, provided he give good affurances, that, for the future, he will firmly adhere to the church of England, in which 'he was fo carefully educated by his honeft parents.' There were alfo lampoons, and other libels, both in verfe and profe, published against the same peer. peace; 1711-12. peace; and this was fettled at the Hague to be one of the preliminaries. But when an end was put to the conferences at Gertruydenberg, the lord Townshend was ordered to set on a treaty with the states to that effect. They entertained it very readily; but at the fame time propofed, that England fhould enter into a guaranty with them, to maintain their barrier, which confifted of some places which they were to garrifon, the fovereignty of which was ftill in the crown. of Spain, and of other places which had not belonged to that crown at the death of king Charles the fecond, but had been taken in the progrefs of the war; for, by their agreements with Great-Britain, they bore the charge of the fieges, and fo the places taken were to belong to them. These were chiefly Lifle, Tournay, Menin, and Doway, and were to be kept ftill by them. But as for those places, which, from the time of the treaty of the Pyrenees belonged to the Spaniards, they had been fo ill looked after by the Spanish governors of Flanders, who were more intent upon enriching themselves, and keeping a magnificent court at Bruffels, than on preferving the country, that neither were the fortifications kept in due repair, nor the magazines furnished, nor the foldiers paid; fo that, whenever the war broke out, the French made themselves very easily masters of places fo ill kept. The ftates had therefore proposed, during this war, that the fovereignty of thofe places fhould continue ftill to belong to the crown of Spain, but they fhould keep garrifons in the strongest and the most exposed, in particular thofe that lay on the Lys and the Scheld; and, for maintaining this, they asked a hundred thousand pounds a year from thofe provinces; by which they would be kept better and cheaper than ever they had been, while they were in the hands of the Spaniards. They afked likewife a free paffage for all the ftores that they fhould fend to thofe places. This feemed to be fo reafonable, that, fince the intereft of England, as well as the flates, required that this frontier should be carefully maintained, the miniftry were ready to hearken to it. It was objected, that, in cafe of a war between England and the states, the trade of those provinces would be wholly in the hands of the Dutch: but this had been fettled in the great truce, which, by the mediation of France and England, was made in 1609, between the Spaniards and the ftates. There was a provisional order therein made for the freedom of trade in those provinces; and that was turned into a perpetual one by the peace of Munfter. King Charles of Spain had agreed to the |