trigues of the
earl of Sunderland; and he was now likewise dismissed from the place
of lord-lieutenant of Ireland. Mr. Robert Walpole resigned his posts of
first commissioner of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer: his
example was followed by Mr. Pulteney, secretary at war, and Mr. Methuen,
secretary of state. When the affair of the supply was resumed in the
house of commons, Mr. Stanhope made a motion for granting two hundred
and fifty thousand pounds for that purpose. Mr. Pulteney observed, that
having resigned his place, he might no w act with the freedom becoming
an Englishman: he declared against the manner of granting the supply, as
unparliamentary and unprecedented. He said he could not persuade himself
that any Englishman advised his majesty to send such a message; but he
doubted not the resolution of a British parliament would make a German
ministry tremble. Mr. Stanhope having harangued the house in vindication
of the ministry, Mr. Smith answered every article of his speech: he
affirmed, that if an estimate of the conduct of the ministry in relation
to affairs abroad was to be made from a comparison of their conduct
at home, they would not appear altogether so faultless as they were
represented. "Was it not a mistake," said he, "not to preserve the
peace at home, after the king had ascended the throne with the universal
applause and joyful acclamations of all his subjects? Was it not
a mistake, upon the breaking out of the rebellion, not to issue a
proclamation, to offer pardon to such as should return home peaceably,
according to the custom on former occasions of the same nature? Was it
not a mistake, after the suppression of the rebellion and the trial and
execution of the principal authors of it, to keep up animosities, and
drive people to despair, by not passing an act of indemnity, by keeping
so many persons under hard and tedious confinement; and by granting
pardons to some, without leaving them any means to subsist? Is it not
a mistake, not to trust a vote of parliament for making good such
engagements as his majesty should think proper to enter into; and
instead of that, to insist on the granting this supply in such an
extraordinary manner? Is it not a mistake, to take this opportunity to
create divisions, and render some of the king's best friends suspected
and obnoxious? Is it not a mistake, in short, to form parties and cabals
in order to bring in a bill to repeal the act of occasional confor