nister. This bill, while it confined genius on the one hand, turned it to proper objects of pursuit on the other; and the stage is at present free from the scandalous license which infects the press, but perhaps rendered more dull from the abridgement of unlimited abuse.

New subjects of controversy offered every day; and the members on each side were ready enough to seize them. A convention agreed upon by the ministry, at the Prado, with Spain, became an object of warm alterA. D. cation. By this the court of Spain agreed to pay 1739. the sum of ninety-five thousand pounds to the English as a satisfaction for all demands upon the crown and the subjects of that kingdom, and to discharge the whole within four months, from the day of ratification. This, however, was considered as no equivalent for the damages that had been sustained; the country party declaimed against it as a sacrifice of the interests of Great Britain to the court of Spain, and alleged that the whole of their demands should be paid, which amounted to three hundred and forty thousand pounds. The minister on this occasion was provoked into unusual vehemence. He branded the opposite party with the appellation of traitors, and expressed his hope that their behaviour would unite all the true friends of the present government in opposing their designs. The ministry were, as usual, victorious; and the country party, finding themselves out-voted in every debate, resolved to withdraw for ever. They had long asserted that all deliberation was useless, and debate vain, since every member had enlisted himself not under the banners of reason, but of party. Despairing, therefore, of being able to oppose with any hopes of conviction, and sensible of the popularity of their cause, they retired from parliament to their seats in the country, and left to the ministry an undisputed majority in the house of commons. The minister, being now left without opposition, was resolved to give his opponents the most sensible mortification, by an alteration in his conduct. He took this opportunity to render them odious or contemptible, by passing several useful laws in their absence. At the same time, the king himself laboured with equal assiduity at his favourite object of adjusting the political scale of Europe. For this purpose, he made several journeys to the continent; but in the mean time a rupture of a domestic nature was likely to be attended with many inconveniences. A misunderstanding arose between the king and the prince of Wales; and, as the latter was the darling of the people, his cause was seconded by all those of the country party. The prince had been a short time before married to the princess of Saxe-Gotha; and the prince, taking umbrage at the scantiness of the yearly allowance from his father, seldom visited the court. The princess had advanced to the last month of her pregnancy before the king had any notice of the event; and she was actually brought to bed of a princess, without properly acquainting the king. In consequence of this, his majesty sent his son a message, informing him that the whole tenour of his conduct had of late been so void of real duty, that he resolved to punish him by. forbidding him the court. He therefore signified his pleasure that he should leave St. James's with all his family; and, in consequence, the prince retired to Kew. This rupture was very favourable to the country interest, as they thus had a considerable personage equally interested with themselves to oppose the ministry. To the prince, therefore, resorted all those who formed future. expectations of rising in the state, and all who had reason to be discontented with the present conduct of administration.

CHAPTER IV.

GEORGE II. (Continued.)

.

A. D. 1739-1742.

Ever since the treaty of Utrecht, the Spaniards in America had insulted and distressed the commerce of Great Britain, and the British merchants had attempted to carry on an illicit trade into their dominions. A right which the English merchants claimed by treaty, of cutting logwood in the bay of Campeachy, gave them frequent opportunities of pushing in contraband commo dities upon the continent; so that, to suppress the evil, the Spaniards were resolved to annihilate the claim. This liberty of cutting logwood had often been acknowledged, but never clearly ascertained ; in all former treaties, it was considered as an object of too little importance to make a separate article in any negotiation. The Spanish vessels appointed for protecting the coast continued their severities upon the English; many of the subjects of Britain were sent to dig in the mines of Potosi, and deprived of all means of conveying their complaints to those who might send them redress. One remonstrance followed another to the court of Madrid, of this violation of treaty; but the only answers given were promises of inquiry, which produced no reformation. Our merchants complained loudly of those outrages; but the minister vainly expected from negotiations that redress which was only to be obtained by

arms.

The fears discovered by the court of Great Britain only served to increase the insolence of the enemy; and their guard-ships continued to seize not only all the guilty, but the innocent, whom they found sailing along the Spanish main. At last the complaints of the English merchants were loud enough to interest the house of commons; their letters and memorials were produced, and their grievances enforced by counsel at the bar of the house. It was soon found that the money which Spain had agreed to pay to the court of Great Britain was withheld, and no reason assigned for the delay. The minister, therefore, to gratify the general ardour, and to atone for his former deficiencies, assured the house that he would put the nation into a condition of war. Soon after letters of reprisal were granted against the Spaniards; and this being on both sides considered as an actual commencement of hostilities, both diligently set forward their armaments by sea and land. In this threatening situation, the French minister at the Hague declared that his master was obliged by treaty to assist the king of Spain ; so that the alliances which but twenty years before had taken place were now quite reversed. At that time France and England were combined against Spain; at present, France and Spain were united against England : such little hopes can statesmen place upon the firmest treaties, where there is no superior power to compel the observance.

A rupture between England and Spain being now considered as inevitable, the people, who had long clamoured for war, began to feel uncommon alacrity at its approach; and the ministry began to be as earnest in preparation. Orders were issued for augmenting the land forces, and raising a body of marines. War was declared with all proper solemnity, and soon after two rich Spanish prizes were taken in the Mediterranean. Admiral Vernon, a man of more courage than experience, of more confidence than skill, was sent commander of a fleet into the West Indies, to distress the enemy in that part of the globe. He had asserted in the house of commons that Porto-Bello, a fort and harbour in South America, could be easily destroyed; and that he himself would undertake to reduce it with six ships only. A project which appeared so wild and impracticable was ridiculed by the ministry; but, as he still insisted upon the proposal, they complied with his request, hoping that his want of success might repress the confidence of his party. In this, however, they were disappointed; for with six ships only he attacked and demolished all the fortifications of the place, and came away victorious, with scarcely the loss of a man. This victory was magnified at home in all the strains of panegyric, and the triumph was far superior to the value of the conquest.

As the war began thus successfully, it inspired the commons to prosecute it with all imaginable vigour. The minister easily procured from that assembly such supplies as enabled him to equip a very powerful navy. A subsidy was voted to the king of Denmark, and the king was empowered to defray some other expenses not mentioned in the estimates of the year. As the preparations for war increased in every part of the kingdom, the domestic debates and factions seemed to subside; and, indeed, it seems to have been the peculiar felicity of this nation, that every species of activity takes its turn to occupy the people. In a nation like this, arts and luxury, commerce and war, at certain intervals, must ever be serviceable. This vicissitude turns the current of wealth from one determined channel, and gives it a diffusive spread over the face of the country; it is at one time diverted to the laborious and frugal, and at another to the brave, active, and enterprising. Thus all