a treaty of mutual
defence and guarantee between his majesty and the king of Prussia, was
signed at Westminster. In the house of commons Mr. Lyttelton made a
motion for reviving the place-bill; but it was opposed by a great number
of members who had formerly been strenuous advocates for this measure,
and rejected upon a division. This was also the fate of a motion made
to renew the inquiry into the conduct of Robert earl of Orford. As many
strong presumptions of guilt had appeared against him in the reports of
the secret committee, the nation had reason to expect that this proposal
would have been embraced by a great majority; but several members, who
in the preceding session had been loud in their demands of justice,
now shamefully contributed their talents and interest in stifling the
inquiry.

{GEORGE II. 1727-1760}

EXTRAORDINARY MOTION IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

When the house of lords took into consideration the several estimates of
the expense occasioned by the forces in the pay of Great Britain, earl
Stanhope, at the close of an elegant speech, moved for an address, to
beseech and advise his majesty, that in compassion to his people, loaded
already with such numerous and heavy taxes, such large and growing
debts, and greater annual expenses than the nation at any time before
had ever sustained, he would exonerate his subjects of the charge and
burden of those mercenaries who were taken into the service last year,
without the advice or consent of parliament. The motion was supported by
the earl of Sandwich, who took occasion to speak with great contempt
of Hanover; and, in mentioning the royal family, seemed to forget that
decorum which the subject required. He had, indeed, reason to talk with
asperity on the contract by which the Hanoverians had been taken into
the pay of Great Britain. Levy-money was charged to the account, though
they were engaged for one year only, and though not a single regiment
had been raised on this occasion; they had been levied for the security
of the electorate; and would have been maintained if England had never
engaged in the affairs of the continent. The duke of Bedford enlarged
upon the same subject. He said it had been suspected, nor was the
suspicion without foundation, that the measures of the English ministry
had long been regulated by the interest of his majesty's electoral
territories; that these had been long considered as a gulf into which
the treasures of Great Bri