ministers, who brought a reproach on the nation, by the unsuitable conclusion of a war which had been carried on, in the late reign, at so vast an expence, and had been attended with such unparalleled successes.

Mr. Walpole took an active part in the business, and in the session of parliament of this year, he was made chairman of that committee of secrecy, upon whose report, the house ordered Mr. Prior and Mr. Thomas Harley into custody, for the part they had taken in negotiating the peace. He likewise impeached the famous lord Bolingbroke, who, foreseeing the storm, had fled to France.

In the month of April, 1717, his majesty sent a message to the house of commons, demanding an extraordinary supply, the better to enable him to secure his kingdom against the designs of Sweden. The message was delivered; and the supply moved for by Mr. Stanhope, secretary of state; and it occasioned a very warm debate, in which the friends of the cabinet were divided, and some of the immediate dependants voted against the motion. Mr. Walpole himself remained silent; but finding it was carried by so small a majority as four votes, and lord Townshend being dismissed from the post of lord lieutenant of Ireland, for voting against the supply in the upper house, Mr. Walpole, the very next day, waited on the king, and resigned all his employments. His example was followed by the duke of Devonshire, Mr. Pulteney, and all the principal whigs in office. But, on the day of his resignation, he brought into the house of commons the famous sinking-fund bill.

On the 4th of June, 1720, a coalition of parties took place; Mr. Walpole's friends, the duke of Devonshire, lord Townshend, Mr. Pulteney, and Mr. Methuen, were restored to the royal favour; and he was once more made paymaster-general of all his majesty's forces, and on the fourth of May first lord commissioner of the treasury, and chancellor of the exchequer.

His majesty declaring to his parliament on the twenty-sixth of May, 1723, that some extraordinary affairs required his presence abroad for the summer, was pleased to nominate Mr. Walpole one of the lords justices for the administration of the government; and he was by his majesty's command, sworn full secretary of state

during the absence of the lord viscount Townshend, and the lord Cartaret, who accompanied the king to Hanover,

In the month of May, 1725, the king revived the ancient and honorable order of the knights of the Bath, in honor to his second son, prince William, duke of Cumberland, who was made the first knight; the duke of Montague was appointed grand master; and among the knights were Mr. Robert Walpole and his eldest son lord Walpole. This gentleman had been created a peer by letters patent in 1723, and the reasons assigned for conferring this dignity are stated in the preamble to the patent, which contains the highest encomiums on the public character of sir Robert, and the promising genius of his son. The whole number of knights was 38, including the sovereign, by whom they were invested with great solemnity on the 27th. And on the 7th of June the same year, his majesty declared him one of the lords justices for the adminis tration of affairs during his continuance at Hanover.

On the 26th of May 1726, sir Robert was elected Knight Companion of the most noble Order of the Garter (with his grace the duke of Richmond), and installed at Windsor on the 16th of June following.

Such signal honors thus rapidly bestowed on himself and family, excited the envy of the ambitious; and the measures of his administration being novel, bold, and not always very defensible, the press teemed with invectives against him. He was styled the father of corruption, and a strong party was formed to displace him; but having secured an interest in the heir to the throne, all the designs of his adversaries proved abortive, by the sudden death of George I. in 1727; and they had the mortification to see him enjoy a still greater plenitude of power soon after the accession of George II. To examine the measures of his long administration, as prime or rather sole minister of Great Britain, with impartiality, considered in a political light, would be extremely difficult; and after all it would be impossible to give satisfaction, his public character appearing odious in the sight of one party, while it has been as lavishly applauded by the other. On this account, and because such an investigation would likewise require the introduction of a series of national events sufficient of themselves to form

to form a volume, we refer the curious reader to the history of those times.

Sir Robert Walpole continued to be prime minister till the year 1742, when the election for members for Westminster being carried against the court by two voices, and that for Chippenham, by one, he thought it high time to provide for his own safety, by retiring from a house in which even so small a majority had it in their power at any time to impeach him. Accordingly, having been very roughly handled in the debate, he came out of the house, and in the lobby declared he would never enter it again.

But what fixed his resolution to throw up all his employments, was a step taken by the prince of Wales, his present majesty's father, who being at that time at variance with the king, made the removal of this minister a preliminary article of reconciliation, to which his majesty acceded; and sir Robert, to avoid the disgrace of being dismissed, resigned. The reconciliation took place immediately between the king and the prince; but his majesty, unwilling to let sir Robert's enemies enjoy too great a triumph, called him up to the house of peers, by creating him baron Houghton, (the seat of his family), viscount Walpole, and earl of Orford. However, the royal protection could not screen him from a parliamentary inquiry into his conduct. In March 1742, lord Limerick moved the house of commons, that a committee might be appointed to inquire into the conduct of affairs, at home and abroad, for the last twenty years (the space of time the late minister had been at the helm); but this motion being thought too general, both as to time and matter, after a long debate, was rejected by a majority of only two voices. Not discouraged by this disappointment, the same nobleman, a few days after, made another motion: "That a committee be appointed to inquire into the conduct of Robert earl of Orford, during the last ten years of being first lord commissioner of the treasury, and chancellor of the exchequer." This motion was carried by a majority of seven ; and a committee of secrecy, consisting of twenty-one members, was elected by ballot.

On the 13th of April, lord Limerick reported from the committee, that they had been greatly obstructed in their proceedings by the obstinacy of Nicholas Paxton, esq. late solicitor of

the treasury; of Gwynn Vaughan, esq. and of Mr. Scroop, se cretary to the treasury, who refused to answer interrogatories put to them by the committee. Upon which, the house committed Paxton to Newgate; and as this gentleman and his associates had pleaded in their defence, that the laws of England did not compel any man to reveal matters tending to accuse themselves, in order to obviate this difficulty, a bill of indemnity was passed for such persons as should, upon examination, make discoveries concerning the disposition of public money or offices, or any payment or agreement in respect thereof, or concerning other matters relating to the conduct of Robert earl of Orford. This bill, after a long debate, was rejected in the house of lords; and no man opposed it more strenuously than lord Carteret, the professed enemy of lord Orford. This able statesman considered it as opening a door to the inferior servants of the crown to accuse the superior officers of state upon every change of ministry with im punity; to which they might be tempted by the hopes of securing their places under a new administration.

The friends of the bill in the lower house complained of an ob struction of public justice; and they examined the journals of the house of peers for precedents of such a refusal to concur with the commons in an affair of national justice. In a word, a great misunderstanding was created between the two houses, which would have been carried to violent lengths, if the king had not prorogued the parliament, and thus saved his old servant; for the cry of vengeance without doors extended to his life, and it was openly declared, that nothing less than his head could be accepted as an atonement for his crimes.

In the next session of parliament, on the 1st of December, 1743, the motion was revived for appointing a committee for the same purposes as that of the preceding year; but it was rejected by a majority of 67 votes.

Thus ended an inquiry, which had thrown the nation into a ge neral ferment; but which did little more than bring to light an of fence, universally, suspected or known to have been practised by most prime ministers, and likely to be continued as long as so much unconstitutional power is vested in any one man. We mean, a misapplication of more or less of the public money, to

the purposes of supporting their power, by bribes to needy, venał dependents.

When this storm was over, the earl of Orford retired from pub lic life; his majesty having granted him a pension of £4000 per annum ; but he did not long enjoy his happy retreat; for his unwearied attention to the business of his high station, for such a long course of years, had impaired his constitution, which yielded to the infirmities of an advanced age, and closed the life of this famous statesman in the year 1745.

Diversity of sentiments will always render his public character a doubtful one; but all his contemporaries agree in bestowing the highest encomiums on his private conduct.

He is represented to have been a tender parent, a kind master, a beneficent patron, a firm friend, and a most agreeable com -panion.

Mr. Horace Walpole, his son, has given the earl of Orford a place in his Catalogue of Noble Authors; but it is proper to ob serve, that his lordship's literary abilities seem to have been con fined to the sphere of life in which he moved for all he is known to have written or published are political tracts, on temporary and local subjects; of which a list is given in the said catalogue, vol. II. and in the Supplement, or vol. XII. of the New General Biographical Dictionary. To which authorities, and the best histo rians of the time when lord Orford flourished, we are indebted for these memoirs.

THE LIFE OF

JOHN DALRYMPLE,

EARL OF STAIR.

[A. D. 1679, to 1747.]

THIS celebrated general, and accomplished statesman, was the eldest son of John Dalrymple, esq. created, for his services to king William at the revolution, first viscount, and afterwards, earl of