1733. DISMISSAL OF SIX PEERS. 199 to Walpole on the excise scheme, the most beneficial measure of his administration, while they supported him with equal zeal, although with less clamour, in his spoliation of the sinking fund—a measure at once ununjust and destructive. Pulteney and his followers believed that Walpole's disgrace was now certain. But they were grossly deceived. His power was never so great. His ascendency in the commons was established in a subsequent vote, expressly forced upon the house as a trial of strength, when he carried away a majority of 85; and his influence with the king was decisively exhibited by the dismissal, two days after the excise bill was abandoned, of six peers who, holding offices under the crown, had gone over to the opposition on that occasion. These peers were, lord Chesterfield, lord steward of the household; lord Burlington, captain of the band of pensioners; lord Clinton, lord of the bedchamber; the duke of Montrose, keeper of the great seal; the earl of Stair, viceadmiral; and the earl of Marchmont, lord-register; in addition to which, lord Cobham and the duke of Bolton were deprived of their regiments. Several confidential friends were appointed to the vacant places: his son, lord Walpole, was made lord-lieutenant of the county of Devon, and sir Charles Wager, on his especial recommendation, was created first lord of the admiralty in the room of viscount Torrington, recently deceased. The king closed the session on the 11th of June, adverting in strong terms to the artifices that had been so seduously and successfully employed to inflame the minds of his subjects, and "by the most unjust misrepresentations to raise tumults and disorders, that almost threatened the peace of the kingdom." CHAP. IX. 1733-1735. CONTEST FOR THE THRONE OF POLAND. ELECTION OF STANISLAUS.-FORCIBLE PROCLAMATION OF AUGUSTUS. FRANCE, SPAIN, AND SARDINIA DECLARE WAR AGAINST AUSTRIA. — OPERATIONS OF THE CAMPAIGNS IN GERMANY AND ITALY. THE EMPEROR CLAIMS SUCCOURS FROM ENGLAND-IS REFUSED THREATENS TO OPEN A NEGOTIATION WITH SPAIN. OPENING OF PARLIAMENT.-POLICY OF WALPOLE. TACTICS OF THE OPPOSITION. FOREIGN AFFAIRS. MILITARY PREROGATIVE OF THE CROWN ASSAILED. MOTION FOR AN ADDRESS CONCERNING THE LATE DISMISSALS. PLAN OF PROCEEDING OF THE ANTI-MINISTERIALISTS. ATTEMPT TO REPEAL THE SEPTENNIAL ACT.SPEECHES OF WYNDHAM AND WALPOLE. CLOSE OF THE SESSION.PROGRESS OP AFFAIRS IN THE RECESS. GENERAL ELECTION. BRIEF AND UNINTERESTING SESSION. WAR DECLARED BETWEEN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. DECISIVE INTERPOSITION OF ENGLAND. ARDUOUS NEGOTIATIONS BETWEEN THE ALLIES AND THE EMPEROR.GENERAL PACIFICATION. WHILE the English government was absorbed in domestic affairs, the materials of fresh discords were rapidly forming on the continent of Europe. The death of Augustus II., king of Poland and elector of Saxony, in the preceding January, produced a new source of rivalry and disunion. There were two candidates for the vacant throne: Augustus, the son of the late monarch, whose pretensions were supported by Austria and Russia; and Stanislaus, who had formerly been placed upon the throne of Poland by Charles XII., but who had been compelled to relinquish it on the decline of his patron's fortunes. The claims of Stanislaus were now sustained by Louis XV. of France, who was married to his daughter, and whose influence was paramount in the diet. The succession, agreeably to custom, was to be determined by election, and Louis declared his determination 1734. CORONATION OF AUGUSTUS. 201 not to suffer any interference with the freedom of the electors. The conflicting desires and interests involved in this proceeding placed the English minister in a situation of extreme difficulty. He was no less anxious to exclude Stanislaus than Austria or Russia; while he was unwilling to offend France by taking an active share in his exclusion. But Walpole's genius was equal to the emergency. In answer to the applications that were made to him by the several powers engaged, he gave such assurances as satisfied each; but in no instance left it to be implied that, under any circumstances, he contemplated the cooperation of force. His instructions to the ambassadors at the different courts were marked by the same caution and prudence; and the resident at Warsaw was strictly enjoined to give the strongest assurances of his Britannic majesty's affection and friendship towards that republic; to declare upon all occasions for a free election; to favour Augustus with the utmost discretion and moderation, and not to join in the exclusion of any candidate except the pretender; in which case, should any encouragement be given to the chevalier, he was to protest against it, and leave the kingdom. In the mean while, the election took place, and in the month of September Stanislaus was proclaimed king of Poland. The representatives of Russia and Austria protested against the choice of the diet; an army of 60,000 Austrians gathered on the frontier of Silesia; and the Saxon party, supported by 50,000 Russians, entered Poland by the Lithuanian border, and penetrated to Warsaw without resistance. Panic-struck by this unexpected movement, the adherents of Stanislaus dispersed, that unfortunate prince fled precipitately to Dantzic, where he was pursued and besieged by the Russians and Saxons, and Augustus was proclaimed and crowned in the suburbs of the capital on the 17th of January, 1734. Stanislaus at length found means to escape from 1734. Dantzic, when the city surrendered; and universal submission having taken place to the authority of Augustus, a general amnesty was granted to the partisans of his discomfited rival. The sovereignty of Poland was, therefore, finally settled; but the court of Versailles, indignant at the breach of faith by which its influence was set aside, resolved to revenge the insult upon the territories of the emperor, whose dominions lay more open to attack than those of the czarina. The emperor denied that he had acted offensively against Stanislaus, inasmuch as he had not sent any troops into Poland; but the disposition exhibited by his minister at Warsaw, and the assembling of a formidable force on the frontier, were held to be equivalent to armed interference. War was accordingly declared by France, in which she was joined by Spain and Sardinia; and the declaration was followed by instant hostilities. A French army, under the command of the duke of Berwick, passed the Rhine, and took Fort Kehl ; and another corps, at the same moment, over-ran Lorraine. During these operations, prince Eugene, now in the decline of life, was compelled to keep the defensive at Heilbron, waiting for reinforcements to enable him to make head against the invaders. The winter months afforded to both sides an opportunity to prepare for more extensive movements. In the spring the duke of Berwick advanced to the town of Philipsburg, which he invested; but on the 12th of June he was killed in the trenches, and the command devolved on the marquis d'Asfeldt. Prince Eugene, taking advantage of this event, advanced to the relief of the town; but he found the French lines so strong, that he considered it prudent to fall back upon Heidelberg. The governor of Philipsburg surrendered upon honourable terms; and the campaign ended about the beginning of October. The imperial arms experienced similar misfortunes in Naples and Lombardy. Don Carlos, invited to the throne of Naples by the nobility of that kingdom, resolved to avail himself of the moment, when the forces of Austria, called into action in so many different quarters, were weakened by dis 1734. CAMPAIGN IN ITALY. 203 persion. He commenced his march in February, entered Naples in triumph, and was received with open arms by the people. The German viceroy, unable to offer any effective resistance, retired to Nocera, where he endeavoured to assemble the militia, with the inten-tion of forming a camp at Barletta. But, rapidly pursued by the count de Montemar, he was compelled to give battle in the plain of Bitonto in Apuglia, where he was completely routed on the 25th of May, a great number of his principal officers falling into the hands of the Spaniards. Don Carlos was now formally proclaimed king of Naples. Montemar, created duke of Bitonto in honour of the recent victory, quickly reduced Gaeta, Capua, and all the other places where any remnants of the imperialists yet lingered; and throwing 20,000 troops into Sicily, brought that place under the sovereignty of the new king. By this last achievement the whole country came into the possession of the Spaniards, except Messina, Syracuse, and Trepani. The progress of the allies in Lombardy, was equally disastrous to Austria. The united forces of France and Piedmont, commanded by the king of Sardinia and the venerable marshal de Villars *, reduced Tortona in the month of January. The imperial army, under the command of count Merci, appeared in great strength on the banks of the Po, crossed that river in the face of the allies, obliged Villars to retreat, and took the castle of Colorno. Villars, incapable of the fatigues of the campaign, was compelled by illness to retire to Turin, where he died, covered with glory, at the age of eighty. His command devolved on the marshal de Coigny, who engaged the imperialists on the 29th of June. Both armies * When this brave veteran was invited to place himself at the head of the army destined for Italy, he repeated the following lines from the "Bajazet " of Racine : 66 Quoi! tu crois, cher Osmin, que ma gloire passée This wit is attested by Voltaire. Towards the end of the siege of Milan, somebody asked his age." Quel:âge avez-vous, monsieur le maréchal ?" he replied, “Dans peu des jours j'aurois Mil-an." |