"falling off from him, and the like. It was inti"mated now, that His Majesty did not approve " of Lord Carteret for the first Commissioner of "the Treasury, but was content that he should be

"

Secretary of State. His Majesty would very willingly have placed the honorable Gentleman "himself at the head of the Treasury; but since " he had declined it, His Majesty was desirous "that Lord Wilmington might succeed to it; "His Majesty had engaged his royal word to him "that he should succeed; he was his old and "faithful servant, and the honorable Gentleman "and his friends could have no objection to him.

His Majesty also himself requested of Mr. "Pulteney to prevail with his friend Lord Car"teret, to desist from his purpose, which request

he the rather complied, as he was satisfied that "Lord Wilmigton neither could nor would ob "struct their measures in the Treasury, and as he "knew very well that his friend Lord Carteret "would excel so much more in one capacity than "in the other, being more conversant in foreign "affairs than in matters relating to the finances. "A little afterwards some objections were made

to the honorable Gentleman's list of the Lord's "of the Admiralty; His Majesty could by no

means agree to make them all; and it was in"sisted that some of the King's friends (as they

were called) should be of the number. A de

"murrer

ii murrer was likewise made to some other altera

ct

tions, which had been stipulated and agreed. "And thus was the Court beginning to reap con"siderable advantages from the divisions of the * Country party.

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"However the Duke of Argyle was restored to "his places, Lord Cobham was restored to a regiment, and several other alterations were made " which need not be here enumerated. But at "the same time the honorable Gentleman was "sensible of that noble Duke's warmth of tem

per, and was afraid that some persons might "take advantage of it, and inflame him and "hurry him beyond the bounds of moderation. "He was likewise apprehensive that the noble "Duke might not be looked upon at Court with so gracious an eye as he might expect; and

ແ

though he was restored to all his places, yet he

might nor find himself restored to favor. He "conjured him therefore to take no notice of it,

i

as his Grace knew the temper there well enough; "in a little time he might be received more graciously; and he insisted upon his Grace's "word and honor, that he would not resign his "places without first acquainting him. His "Grace promised accordingly upon his word and "honor. But Mr. Pulteney tired and almost "wearied out, went only for a day or two into "the country for a little fresh air; and when he "6 came

"came to town again, the first thing he heard

was, that the Duke of Argyle had been at Court "that morning, and had resigned all his places. "He has heartily vexed, as a more fatal step "could not have been taken to undo all that he was doing; and while he was laboring all he "could to reconcile the King to the Country party, this he was certain would provoke and exasperate him more against it.

"And then during that unhappy period when "he was confined by the sickness and death of "his dearly beloved and only daughter, the op

position had a mind to show that they could "be still a formidable opposition, and carry things "without him; and therefore they determined to "move for a secret committee to be appointed "for inquiring into Lord Orford's administration. "Here we are sorry to say, that the Lords Win"chelsea and Carteret did not act the fair and "candid part in making use of his name without "his authority, by intimating to his friends that "it would be agreeable to him, if they would not "attend any such motion. Accordingly the mo"tion was made, while he was confined at home, " and while Mr. Sandys was gone down to Wor

cester to be re-elected; and as it is very well "known, was lost by a considerable majority against it. But as soon as ever he could with decency appear again in public, to clear himself

" from

"from all imputations of being the screen that he 22 was unjustly supposed to be; he made the mo "tion himself for a secret committee to examine "into Lord Orford's conduct for ten years last σε past, and he carried it: but at the same time "desired to be excused from being one of the com"mittee, on account of some expressions which "he had thrown out in the heat of opposition. "No man was more desirous than he that the "nation should have justice; but then he would not have that justice sullied by any thing that

might look like personal pique and private แ revenge. If this inquiry terminated in nothing

more effectual than it did, the defect must be at"tributed partly to the cold water which had al

ready been thrown upon it, and partly to the

want of a bill to indemnify those persons who "should confess any corrupt practices, which bill

was chiefly by his means carried through the "House of Commons, but was thrown out of the "House of Lords; and yet from the report of the secret committee enough appeared to show that something worse lay at the bottom.

"But still jealousies and divisions prevailed "more and more in the Country party, and the "Court party not only recovered courage, but re

gained strength. And the honorable Gentleman "between both, as it were between two fires, was really in a very unhappy situation; for as on the

f

one side the Country suspected him and were falling off from him, because the Court did not "fulfil their engagements to him; so on the other "side the Court did not fulfil their engagements

to him, because they saw the Country were fall"ing off from him. The broad bottom (as it was " called) were now become the subject of derision, "and His Majesty would suffer no more of them "to be placed about him. The Tories were treat"ed as little better than Jacobites, and as altoge"ther unfit for His Majesty's service. Insomuch "that the honorable Gentleman at several audi

ences, and upon several occasions, pressed and " urged again and again, that the Tories were by sc no means Jacobites, but to use them as Jacobites "was the ready way to make them so; that two "thirds of the nation were Tories, and several of "them were men of great estates and fortunes; "and why would his Majesty make himself only "the Head of a party, when he might be King of "the whole nation? He was himself a Whig, and "his most intimate friends and companions were "Whigs; and he would have the main body of "the tree in His Majesty's government to consist "of Whigs, but then he wished to have some To"ries inoculated and ingraffed upon it. The Tories 66 were not many of them masters of numbers or of languages, and consequently could not, and did

66

not expect the first posts in the government:

"but