since her time, except her royal successor queen Anne. Thus she reigned, and reigned absolutely, but so as I could wish every prince in England to do; she reigned absolutely over the hearts and affections of her subjects, and thereby she had both their persons and their purses always at command. bait for some gentlemen: but I hope the landed gentlemen are not to be caught by such baits; the hook appears so plain, that it may be discovered by any man of common sense; how ever, I must say, that the method of arguing is unfair, the design is wicked; for it is an endeavour to set the landed interest in a manner at war with the trading interest of the nation; it Gentlemen ask, why do you complain of this is endeavouring to destroy that harmony which scheme? Here is no new tax to be imposed; always ought to subsist among the people of the there is nothing proposed but only a new mesame nation, and which if once destroyed, thod of raising those taxes which are already would certainly end in the ruin and destruc- due by the law: but I would have gentlemen tion of the whole. But every landed gentleman remember, that this nation has once already in England will do well to consider what value been more grievously oppressed, by a new their lands would be of, if for the sake of a method of raising and collecting that money small and immediate ease to themselves, they that was before due by law, than they ever should be induced to oppress and destroy the were by any new tax that ever was laid on trade of their country; and whoever considers them: I have already mentioned the reign of this, will despise all such projects, and reject Queen Elizabeth; let us but look a little farther them with that contempt which they deserve; back, and we shall find that the people were this is one reason for the landed gentlemen not most terribly harassed, and the nation almost to accept of the pretended ease, now offered to destroyed, by a grievous method of collecting them, on agreeing to the Scheme now pro- and raising that which was due by the laws posed; but there is another strong reason against then in being. Empson and Dudley, those it: This House of Commons is mostly com- two noted ways-and-means-men, those two posed of gentlemen of the best families and wicked ministers, knowing the avarice of their greatest properties, perhaps in the nation, they master, and the insatiable desire he had for have generally a great family-interest in the money, concluded that no scheme would be several counties, cities and boroughs they re- more agreeable to him, than those which would present; if this Scheme should take effect, that fill his coffers by draining the purses of his subinterest will soon be destroyed; and surely no jects; and this they did, without imposing any man will agree to a Scheme, which must inevi- new taxes, they laid no new or illegal burdens tably destroy the natural interest the great on the people, they did it by a severe and families have, and always ought to have, in rigorous execution of the laws that had hefore their respective counties; and transfer the been enacted: but what was their fate? They whole to the crown: if this Scheme should had the misfortune to outlive their master: but once be established, the power and influence of bis son, as soon as he came to the throne, took the crown will be so great in all parts of the off both their heads; and in this he did justly, nation, that no man can depend upon the natu- though he did it against law: they had done ral interest he has in his country for being a nothing contrary to law; they had only put member of this House; he must in all future the laws severely in execution, and what they times for such a favour depend entirely upon did was in obedience to the command of the the crown; and this, I hope, there is no gentle- King his father; yet that could be no excuse man in this House would chuse to submit to. for them; their manner of executing those laws Queen Elizabeth, that wise and gracious was so grievous and oppressive upon the subprincess, governed herself by politics, quite jects, that nothing less than their lives could be different from those which seem to be at pre- admitted of as a sufficient atonement to the sent in vogue; she was so far from endeavour- people; and certainly, that oppression which ing to divide or throw discord among her sub-is committed under the sanction of the laws, or jects, that she wisely never gave herself up to any one minister, or to any one party; she always preserved a harmony among all her subjects, and kept a friendly correspondence with all parts and all parties in the kingdom; she even kept up a constant personal correspondence with some of the principal men in every county, by which she had always a thorough knowledge of the several sentiments, as well as circumstances, of all her subjects, and most prudently adapted all her measures to what she found to be the sentiments of the generality of the nation; more particularly she took care to avoid every thing that appeared to be disagreeable to the people; to this wise policy it is owing, that her reigu makes such a glorious figure in the English history; to this it is owing, that she reigned with more popularity than any prince of the royal authority, must always be deemed the most heinously criminal, and ought to be the most severely punished. There never was in any reign a scheme or project attempted, so much to the dislike and dissatisfaction of the people in general; the whole nation has already so openly declared their aversion to the scheme now offered to us, that I am surprized to see it insisted on; the very proposing of such a scheme to the House of Commons, after so many remonstrances against it, I must think most audacious; it is in a manner Aying in the face of the whole people of England; and since they have already declared against it, God forbid that we who are their representatives should declare for it. Sir Robert Walpole replied as follows: Sir, the curtain that played them, and made them speak whatever they had a mind. man in that ward: And by the same sort of unwarrantable methods have the clamours been raised, almost in every other part of the nation. As I was obliged, when I opened the affair now before you, to take up a great deal of There is now a most extraordinary concourse your time, I then imagined that I should not of people at our door; I hope it will not be hers have been under a necessity of giving you any said, that all those people came there of themfarther trouble; but when such things are selves naturally, and without any instigation thrown out, things which in my opinion are from others; for to my certain knowledge, quite foreign to the debate; when the ancient some very odd methods were used to bring such histories, not only of this, but other countries, multitudes bither; circular letters were wrote, are ransacked for characters of wicked minis- and sent by the beadles, in the most public ters, in order to adapt them to the present and unprecedented manner, round almost times, and to draw parallels between them and every ward in the city, summoning them upon some modern characters, to which they hear no their peril to come down this day to the House other resemblance than that they were minis- of Commons: This I am certain of, because I ters, it is impossible for one to sit still: of late have now one of those letters in my pocket; years, I have dealt but little in the study of signed by a deputy of one of the greatest wards history, but I have a very good prompter by in the city of London, and sent by the beadle me, [meaning sir Philip Yorke] and by his to one of the inhabitants of that ward; and I means I can recollect, that the case of Empson know that such letters were sent in the same and Dudley, mentioned by the honourable gen-manner almost to every liveryman and tradestleman who spoke last, was so very different. from any thing that can possibly be presumed from the scheme now before us, that I wonder how it was possible to lug them into the debate: the case as to them was, that they had by virtue of old and obsolete laws, most unjustly extorted great sums of money from people, who, as was pretended, bad become liable to great, pains and penalties, by having been guilty of breaches of those obsolete laws, which for many years before had gone entirely into disuse. I must say, and I hope most of those that hear me think, that it is very unjust and unfair to draw any parallel between the characters of those two ministers and mine, which was, I suppose, what the honourable gentleman meant to do, when he brought that piece of history into the debate. If I ever endeavour to raise money from the people, or from any man whatever by oppressive or illegal means, if my character should ever come to be in any respect like theirs, I shall deserve their fate: but while I know myself to be innocent, I shall depend upon the protection of the laws of my country; as long as they can protect me I am safe; and if that protection should fail, I am prepared to submit to the worst that can happen. I know that my political and ministerial life has by some gentlemen been long wished at an end, but they may ask their own disappointed hearts, how vain their wishes have been; and as for my natural life, I have lived long enough to learn to be as easy about parting with it, as any man can well be. As to those clamours which have been raised without doors, and which are now so much insisted on, it is very well known by whom and by what methods they were raised, and it is no difficult matter to guess with what views; but I am very far from taking them to be the sense of the nation, or believing that the sentiments of the generality of the people were thereby expressed. The most part of the people concerned in those clamours did not speak their own sentiments, they were played by others like so many puppets: it was not the puppets that spoke, it was those behind Gentlemen may say what they please of the multitudes now at our door, and in all the avenues leading to this House: they may call them a modest multitude if they will; but whatever temper they were in when they came hither, it may be very much altered now, after having waited so long at our door. It may be a very easy matter for some designing seditious person to raise a tumult and disorder among them, and when tumults are once. begun, no man knows where they may end; he is a greater man than any I know.in. the nation, that could with the same ease appease them; for this reason I must think, that it was neither prudent nor regular to use any methods for bringing such multitudes to this place, under any pretence whatever. Gentlemen may give them what name they think, fit; it may be said that they came hither as humble supplicants, but I know whom the law calls Sturdy Beggars, and those who brought them hither could not be certain, but that they might have behaved in the same manner. Hereupon Sir John Barnard rose up to speak, but there being a disorder in the Committee, and the question being loudly called for, Sir John Hinde Cotton stood up, and spoke thus: To order, Sir, I hope you will call gentlemen to order; there is now a gentleman up to speak; a gentleman who speaks as well as any gentleman in this House, and who deserves attention as much as any gentleman that ever spoke in this House: Besides, he is one of the representatives of the greatest and richest city in Europe, a city which is greatly interested in this "I was informed, on the respectable authority of the late much to be regretted lord John Cavendish, that the minister used the phrase sturdy beggars, not as a matter of reproach, but to mark that the petitioners against the excise were formidable petitioners." Coxe's Walpole. debate, and therefore he must be heard; and I desire, Sir, that you will call to order, that the A LIST OF THE MEMBERS WHO VOTED FOR which is due to every gentleman who is a mem-N.B. * These afterwards voted against the Bill. ber of this House. After this the Committee being called to order, Sir John Barnard went on: Sir, I know of no irregular or unfair methods that were used to call people from the city to your door; it is certain that any set of gentlemen or merchants may lawfully desire their friends, they may even write letters, and they may send those letters by whom they please, to desire the merchants of figure and character to come down to the court of requests and to our lobby, in order to solicite their friends and acquaintance against any scheme or project, which they think inay be prejudicial to them. This is the undoubted right of the subject, and what has been always practised upon all occasions. The honourable gentleman talks of Sturdy Beggars, I do not know what sort of people may be now at our door, because I have not lately been out of the House; but I believe they are the same sort of people that were there when I came last into the House, and then I can assure you that I saw none, but such as deserve the name of sturdy beggars as little as the honourable gentleman himself, or any gentleman whatever. It is well known that the city of London was sufficiently apprised of what we were this day to be about; where they got their information I do not know, but I am very certain that they had a right notion of the scheme which has been now opened to us; and they were so generally and zealously bent against it, that whatever methods may have been used to call them hither, I am sure it would have been impossible to have found any legal methods to have prevented their coming hither. Then after some farther debate, the question being put upon the motion made by sir Robert Walpole, it was carried in the affirmative, by 266 voices against 205.* "The debate was protracted till two o'clock in the morning, an hour at that time considered extremely late. The people without were so exasperated, that as sir Robert passed towards his carriage, some of them caught him by the cloak, and would probably have committed some violent outrage on his person, if his son, Edward Walpole, and general Churchill had not interfered."-Coxe's Walpole "Whitehall, March 15th, 1732-3. It is with the greatest pleasure that I am now going to give your excellency an account of the success of yesterday's debate, which is perhaps one of the most important that he happened since the Revolution. It was opened about a quarter before one, by sir Robert Walpole, who spoke two hours and a quarter, explaining and shewing the advantages of his scheme with Mr. Winnington, Teller. Alston, sir Rowland Andrews, Townshend Anstruther, sir John Anstruther, col. Ph. Areskine, Charles Arundel, hon. Rich. Ashburnham, sir Will. Ashe, Edward Austen, sir Robert such perspicuity and strength of argument, that every body that heard him allows that he never made a better speech in his life. After him spoke alderman Perry, then sir William Youge, sir Paul Methuen, Mr. Attorney General, alderman Barnard, Mr. Winnington, Mr. Henry Pelham, Mr. Shippen, sir Joseph Jekyll, Mr. Heathcote, Mr. Solicitor-General, Mr. Pulteney, sir William Wyndham, and then sir Robert Walpole closed the debate; and about half an hour past midnight the question was put, and carried by 265 against 204; the fullest House that has been known this long time; to these must be added the two tellers, and there are besides 11 members in town that were prevented by sickness, and one, viz. sir Robert Furnese, died yesterday: so that your excellency sees this matter was well attended. Indeed 1 look upon it to have been the sheet anchor of the disaffected; and by a particular circumstance that happened without doors, it looks as if nothing can hardly equal the rage of the disappointed cabal. "The debate was carried only by those who spoke for the question, with all the temper and dignity that was ever known upon such an occasion. Those whose speeches were most admired were sir Robert, who possest himself, and was in as high spirit at the latter end of the day as when he first set out; the attorney and the solicitor-general, and sir Joseph Jekyll; which last, though most firmly attached to the royal family and to the constitution, yet from a particular turn of his own, seldom votes with the King's servants. Two other gentlemen have been named to me who went to the House determined to vote against the question, yet voted for it upon conviction; their principles and the company they keep being such that this was not in the least expected. As for sir Joseph, be solemnly protested that he came undetermined, but perfectly free and resolved to take that part which upon the debate should appear to him the most just and reasonable; and that having heard the strongest arguments on one side, and none on the other but what were trifling and evasive, of all which on both sides he made a very handsome and fair recapitulation, he was for the question. "I must own that, though I did not doubt but the thing would be carried, yet the majo rity was greater than I expected, considering the artifices that had been used to inflame the corporations, and engage a majority in several of them to write to their members to oppose the scheme, which could not but have an influence upon many of them with regard to their future elections, which are not very distant. Besides the abolishing of frauds, perjury, &c. which have been too much practised in the customs, and other considerations with respect to the duty itself, (for tobacco only was the subject, wine being reserved for another debate after Easter,) your excellency will easily see the happy effects of this event. Among others, it will shew the malecontents, that neither the ministry nor the parliament are to be intimidated by popular clamour from doing what is for the King and country's service. And then it will give room for taking off the land tax intirely, which will be a fund of two millions, and much more if it could be equally Jaid, ready for any emergency; and which tax will in such case be more cheerfully paid by the landed men, when they see that they are not to be eternally loaded with it; but that it is laid upon them (if the misfortunes of the time should require it) out of mere necessity, and to be taken off again when that necessity ceases. Your excellency will forgive my indulging the satisfaction arising from these comfortable reflections, by mentioning what you, from your own observations, will feel much better than I can pretend to explain it. I come now to obey my lord duke of Newcastle's commands, by making his excuses for not answering your last letters, which he will do very "I must add a word about the multitude that crowded the Court of Requests, Westminster-hall, and the other places and passages adjoining to the House of Commons. It could not well be otherwise, where two such numerous trades as the tobacconists of all ranks were, and the vintners of all denominations apprehended themselves to be concerned; but there happened nothing like a tumult; and the precaution that had been taken as usual on like occasions, to have justices of peace and constables ready in the neighbourhood, proved quite unnecessary. As to the dissatisfied vintners and shopkeepers in country corporations, if any should continue so, their neighbours that have estates, and by whose custom they subsist, will be eased of the land tax, and being pleased Carnarvon, maro, of Erle, Will. Rawlinson Glenorchy, visc. Gough, sir Henry Jennings, sir John with it, will be able to bring their tradesmen soon into temper. "I omitted doing justice to sir William Wyndham, who made the most of a bad argument, and spoke extremely well, Perry's Speech was next. The rest of that side were not applauded; nor did they speak so well as some of them have talked upon other occasions."-De la Faye to the Earl of Waldegrave; Coxe's Walpole. "His royal highness the Prince of Wales was present at the debates in the House of Commons; as was likewise a great number of the nobility and foreign ministers: There was likewise the greatest concourse of people in Westminster-hall, the Court of Requests, the Lobby, &c. that has been known for many years."London Magazine, Kelsal, Henry Knight, John Knollys, Henry Lewis, Thomas, (of Powlet, Norton, jun. Mouro, John Monson, George Montagu, hon. col. E. Mordaunt, col. John Morgan, Thomas Tilson, Christopher Morton, hon. M. Ducie Townshend, hon. Hor. Murray, John Townshend, hon. Tho. Nasmith, sir James Nicoll, sir C. Gounter Norton, Thomas Offley, Crew Onslow, col. Richard Owen, William Oxenden, sir George Tyrconnel, visc. Papillon, David Parsons, Henry Pearse, Thomas Peirse, Henry Walter, Peter Wardour, William Bromley, William Heathcote, William Heathcote, George- Henley, Anthony Hoby, sir Thomas by Methuen, hon, sir Paul |