reat the speech with contempt, and were justified in doing so by the
manner in which the House of Commons {282} dealt with it. No answer was
given to Shippen's statements, because Shippen's motion was not seconded
and fell to the ground. The resolutions proposed by the Chancellor of
the Exchequer were carried without a division, and a bill was ordered to
be brought in to give effect to them. A provision of one hundred
thousand pounds a year was voted for the Queen, in case she should
survive the King. The vote was agreed to without division or debate.
Parliament was dissolved by proclamation on August 7th.

[Sidenote: 1728--Onslow as Haroun-al-Raschid]

The new Parliament met on January 23d, 1728. It was found that the
ministerial majority was even greater than it had been before. The King
opened Parliament in person, and directed the Commons, who had been
summoned to the House of Peers, to return to their own House and choose
their Speaker. The Commons unanimously chose Arthur Onslow to this high
office. Compton, the former Speaker, had been soothed with a peerage
after his "evaporation." Arthur Onslow was born in 1691, and had been in
Parliament from 1719; in July, 1728, he was made Privy Councillor. We
may anticipate events a little for the purpose of mentioning the fact
that all the writers of his time united in ascribing to Speaker Onslow,
as he has always since been called, a combination of the best attributes
which fit a man to preside over the House of Commons. It is said that
his election to the Speaker's chair was brought about mainly by Sir
Robert Walpole, and that Walpole expected Onslow to use his great
abilities and authority to suit the policy and serve the wishes of the
administration. If this was Walpole's idea, he must soon have found
himself as much mistaken as the conclave of cardinals about whom so much
is said in history, romance, and the drama, who elected one of their
order as Pope because they believed him to be too feeble and nerveless to
have any will of his own, and were much amazed to find that the moment
the new Pope had been elected he suddenly became strong and
energetic--the master and not the servant. Onslow's whole {283} conduct
in the chair of the House of Commons during the many years which he
occupied it displayed an absolute and fearless impartiality. The chair
has never been better filled in English history; the very title of
"Speaker Onslow," ever afterwards given t