BOOK III.
The House of Commons seemed resolved, from the beginning of the session, to inquire strictly not only into all abuses relating to the accounts of the army, but likewise into the several treaties between us and our allies, upon what articles and conditions they were first agreed to, and how these had been since observed. In the first week of their sitting, they sent an address to the Queen, to desire that the treaty, whereby Her Majesty was obliged to furnish forty thousand men, to act in conjunction with the forces of her allies in the Low Countries, might be laid before the House. To which the secretary of state brought an answer, "That search had been made, but no footsteps could be found of any treaty or convention for that purpose." It was this unaccountable neglect in the former ministry, which first gave a pretence to the allies for lessening their quotas, so much to the disadvantage of Her Majesty, her kingdoms, and the common cause, in the course of the war. It had been stipulated by the Grand Alliance, between the Emperor, Britain, and the States, that those three powers should assist each other with their whole force, and that the several proportions should be specified in a particular convention. But if any such convention were made, it was never ratified; only the parties agreed, by common consent, to take each a certain share of the burthen upon themselves, which the late King William communicated to the House of Commons by his secretary of state; and which afterwards the other two powers, observing the mighty zeal in our ministry for prolonging the war, eluded as they pleased.
The commissioners for stating the public accounts of the kingdom, had, in executing their office the preceding summer, discovered several practices relating to the affairs of the army, which they drew up in a report, and delivered to the House.
The Commons began their examination of the report with a member of their own, Mr. Robert Walpole, already mentioned; who, during his being secretary at war, had received five hundred guineas, and taken a note for five hundred pounds more, on account of two contracts for forage of the queen's troops quartered in Scotland. He endeavoured to excuse the first contract; but had nothing to say about the second. The first appeared so plain and so scandalous to the Commons, that they voted the author of it guilty of a high breach of trust, and notorious corruption, committed him prisoner to the Tower, where he continued to the end of the session, and expelled him the House.[1] He was a person much caressed by the opposers of the Queen and ministry, having been first drawn into their party by his indifference to any principles, and afterwards kept steady by the loss of his place. His bold, forward countenance, altogether a stranger to that infirmity which makes men bashful, joined to a readiness of speaking in public, hath justly entitled him, among those of his faction, to be a sort of leader of the second form. The reader must excuse me for being so particular about one, who is otherwise altogether obscure.[2]
[Footnote 1: See "Part Hist," vi. 1071. [T.S.]
[Footnote 2: Walpole was not too obscure, however, to be then the object of Bolingbroke's attack; and in 1726, when Bolingbroke had again attacked Walpole, this time in a letter, the latter replied: "Whatever contradictions these gentlemen may have observed in my character; there is one which I'll venture to assure you, you will never discover, which is my ever being alarmed at an opposition from one in the impotence of disgrace, who could never terrify me in the zenith of his prosperity." "An Answer to the Occasional Writer." [T.S.]
Another part of the report concerned the Duke of Marlborough, who had received large sums of money, by way of gratuity, from those who were the undertakers for providing the army with bread.[3] This the Duke excused, in a letter to the commissioners, from the like practice of other generals: but that excuse appeared to be of little weight, and the mischievous consequences of such a corruption were visible enough; since the money given by these undertakers were but bribes for connivance at their indirect dealings with the army. And as frauds, that begin at the top, are apt to spread through all the subordinate ranks of those who have any share in the management, and to increase as they circulate: so, in this case, for every thousand pounds given to the general, the soldiers at least suffered fourfold.
[Footnote 3: See "The Examiner," Nos. 17 and 28, in vol. ix. of this edition. [W.S.J.]
Another article of this report, relating to the Duke, was yet of more importance. The greatest part of Her Majesty's forces in Flanders were mercenary troops, hired from several princes of Europe. It was found that the Queen's general subtracted two and a half per cent, out of the pay of those troops, for his own use, which amounted to a great annual sum. The Duke of Marlborough, in his letter already mentioned, endeavouring to extenuate the matter, told the commissioners, "That this deduction was a free gift from the foreign troops, which he had negotiated with them by the late King's orders, and had obtained the Queen's warrant for reserving and receiving it: That it was intended for secret service, the ten thousand pounds a year given by Parliament not proving sufficient, and had all been laid out that way." The commissioners observed, in answer, "That the warrant was kept dormant for nine years, as indeed no entry of it appeared in the secretary of state's books, and the deduction of it concealed all that time from the knowledge of Parliament: That, if it had been a free gift from the foreign troops, it would not have been stipulated by agreement, as the Duke's letter confessed, and as his warrant declared, which latter affirmed this stoppage to be intended for defraying extraordinary contingent expenses of the troops, and therefore should not have been applied to secret services." They submitted to the House, whether the warrant itself were legal, or duly countersigned. The commissioners added, "That no receipt was ever given for this deducted money, nor was it mentioned in any receipts from the foreign troops, which were always taken in full. And lastly, That the whole sum, on computation, amounted to near three hundred thousand pounds."
The House, after a long debate, resolved, "That the taking several sums from the contractors for bread by the Duke of Marlborough, was unwarrantable and illegal; and that the two and a half per cent, deducted from the foreign troops, was public money, and ought to be accounted for:" which resolutions were laid before the Queen by the whole House, and Her Majesty promised to do her part in redressing what was complained of. The Duke and his friends had, about the beginning of the war, by their credit with the Queen, procured a warrant from Her Majesty for this perquisite of two and a half per cent. The warrant was directed to the Duke of Marlborough, and countersigned by Sir Charles Hedges, then secretary of state; by virtue of which the paymaster-general of the army was to pay the said deducted money to the general, and take a receipt in full from the foreign troops.
It was observed, as very commendable and becoming the dignity of such an assembly, that this debate was managed with great temper, and with few personal reflections upon the Duke of Marlborough. They seemed only desirous to come at the truth, without which they could not answer the trust reposed in them by those whom they represented, and left the rest to Her Majesty's prudence. The attorney-general was ordered to commence an action against the Duke for the subtracted money, which would have amounted to a great sum, enough to ruin any private person, except himself. This process is still depending, although very moderately pursued, either by the Queen's indulgence to one whom she had formerly so much trusted, or perhaps to be revived or slackened, according to the future demeanour of the defendant.[4]
[Footnote 4: Marlborough's defence of himself may be found in the "Parliamentary History," vol. vi., 1079. Writing to the Earl of Strafford, under date January 27, 1711, Bolingbroke speaking of this debate on Marlborough says: "What passed on Thursday in the House of Commons, will, I hope, show people abroad, as well as at home, that no merit, no grandeur, no riches can excuse, or save any one, who sets himself up in opposition to the Queen;" and, he might have added, to Mrs. Masham. It is to be questioned if Marlborough would have had to undergo the ordeal of this debate had it not been for the animosity against him on the part of this lady and her royal mistress, so deftly aroused by Harley. [T.S.]
Some time after, Mr. Cardonnell,[5] a Member of Parliament, and secretary to the general in Flanders, was expelled the House, for the offence of receiving yearly bribes from those who had contracted to furnish bread for the army; and met with no further punishment for a practice, voted to be unwarrantable and corrupt.
These were all the censures of any moment which the Commons, under so great a weight of business, thought fit to make, upon the reports of their commissioners for inspecting the public accounts. But having promised, in the beginning of this History, to examine the state of the nation, with respect to its debts; by what negligence or corruption they first began, and in process of time made such a prodigious increase; and, lastly, what courses have been taken, under the present administration, to find out funds for answering so many unprovided incumbrances, as well as put a stop to new ones; I shall endeavour to satisfy the reader upon this important article.
By all I have yet read of the history of our own country, it appears to me, that the national debts, secured upon parliamentary funds of interest, were things unknown in England before the last Revolution under the Prince of Orange. It is true, that in the grand rebellion the king's enemies borrowed money of particular persons, upon what they called the public faith; but this was only for short periods, and the sums no more than what they could pay at once, as they constantly did. Some of our kings have been very profuse in peace and war, and are blamed in history for their oppressions of the people by severe taxes, and for borrowing money which they never paid:[6] but national debts was a style, which, I doubt, would hardly then be understood. When the Prince of Orange was raised to the throne, and a general war began in these parts of Europe, the King and his counsellors thought it would be ill policy to commence his reign with heavy taxes upon the people, who had lived long in ease and plenty, and might be apt to think their deliverance too dearly bought: wherefore one of the first actions of the new government was to take off the tax upon chimneys, as a burthen very ungrateful to the commonalty. But money being wanted to support the war (which even the convention-parliament, that put the crown upon his head, were very unwilling he should engage in), the present Bishop of Salisbury[7] is said to have found out that expedient (which he had learned in Holland) of raising money upon the security of taxes, that were only sufficient to pay a large interest. The motives which prevailed on people to fall in with this project were many, and plausible; for supposing, as the ministers industriously gave out, that the war could not last above one or two campaigns at most, it might be carried on with very moderate taxes; and the debts accruing would, in process of time, be easily cleared after a peace. Then the bait of large interest would draw in a great number of those whose money, by the dangers and difficulties of trade, lay dead upon their hands; and whoever were lenders to the government, would, by surest principle, be obliged to support it. Besides, the men of estates could not be persuaded, without time and difficulty, to have those taxes laid on their lands, which custom hath since made so familiar; and it was the business of such as were then in power to cultivate a moneyed interest; because the gentry of the kingdom did not very much relish those new notions in government, to which the King, who had imbibed his politics in his own country, was thought to give too much way. Neither perhaps did that Prince think national incumbrances to be any evil at all, since the flourishing republic, where he was born, is thought to owe more than ever it will be able or willing to pay. And I remember, when I mentioned to Mons. Buys the many millions we owed, he would advance it as a maxim, that it was for the interest of the public to be in debt: which perhaps may be true in a commonwealth so crazily instituted, where the governors cannot have too many pledges of their subjects' fidelity, and where a great majority must inevitably be undone by any revolution, however brought about: but to prescribe the same rules to a monarchy, whose wealth ariseth from the rents and improvements of lands, as well as trade and manufactures, is the mark of a confined and cramped understanding.
[Footnote 5: Adam Cardonnell, Esq., secretary to the Duke of Marlborough, shared in his disgrace. See "The Examiner," No. 28. [W.S.J.]
[Footnote 6: P. Fitzgerald says "which they have not been able or willing to pay." [W.S.J.]
[Footnote 7: Dr. Gilbert Burnet. [ORIGINAL NOTE.]
I was moved to speak thus, because I am very well satisfied, that the pernicious counsels of borrowing money upon public funds of interest, as well as some other state lessons, were taken indigested from the like practices among the Dutch, without allowing in the least for any difference in government, religion, law, custom, extent of country, or manners and dispositions of the people.
But when this expedient of anticipations and mortgages was first put in practice, artful men, in office and credit, began to consider what uses it might be applied to; and soon found it was likely to prove the most fruitful seminary, not only to establish a faction they intended to set up for their own support, but likewise to raise vast wealth for themselves in particular, who were to be the managers and directors in it. It was manifest, that nothing could promote these two designs so much, as burthening the nation with debts, and giving encouragement to lenders: for, as to the first, it was not to be doubted, that moneyed men would be always firm to the party of those who advised the borrowing upon such good security, and with such exorbitant premiums and interest; and every new sum that was lent, took away as much power from the landed men, as it added to theirs: so that the deeper the kingdom was engaged, it was still the better for them. Thus a new estate and property sprung up in the hands of mortgagees, to whom every house and foot of land in England paid a rent-charge, free of all taxes and defalcations, and purchased at less than half value. So that the gentlemen of estates were, in effect, but tenants to these new landlords; many of whom were able, in time, to force the election of boroughs out of the hands of those who had been the old proprietors and inhabitants. This was arrived at such a height, that a very few years more of war and funds would have clearly cast the balance on the moneyed side.
As to the second, this project of borrowing upon funds, was of mighty advantage to those who were in the management of it, as well as to their friends and dependants; for, funds proving often deficient, the government was obliged to strike tallies for making up the rest, which tallies were sometimes (to speak in the merchants' phrase) at above forty per cent, discount. At this price those who were in the secret bought them up, and then took care to have that deficiency supplied in the next session of Parliament, by which they doubled their principal in a few months; and, for the encouragement of lenders, every new project of lotteries or annuities proposed some farther advantage, either as to interest or premium.
In the year one thousand six hundred and ninety-seven, a general mortgage was made of certain revenues and taxes already settled, which amounted to near a million a year. This mortgage was to continue till one thousand seven hundred and six, to be a fund for the payment of about five millions one hundred thousand pounds. In the first Parliament of the Queen, the said mortgage was continued till one thousand seven hundred and ten, to supply a deficiency of two millions three hundred thousand pounds, and interest of above a million; and in the intermediate years a great part of that fund was branched out into annuities for ninety-nine years; so that the late ministry raised all their money to one thousand seven hundred and ten, only by continuing funds which were already granted to their hands. This deceived the people in general, who were satisfied to continue the payments they had been accustomed to, and made the administration seem easy, since the war went on without any new taxes raised, except the very last year they were in power; not considering what a mighty fund was exhausted, and must be perpetuated, although extremely injurious to trade, and to the true interest of the nation.
This great fund of the general mortgage was not only loaded, year after year, by mighty sums borrowed upon it, but with the interests due upon those sums; for which the treasury was forced to strike tallies, payable out of that fund, after all the money already borrowed upon it, there being no other provision of interest for three or four years: till at last the fund was so overloaded, that it could neither pay principal nor interest, and tallies were struck for both, which occasioned their great discount.
But to avoid mistakes upon a subject, where I am not very well versed either in the style or matter, I will transcribe an account sent me by a person[8] who is thoroughly instructed in these affairs.
[Footnote 8: Sir John Blunt. [ORIGINAL NOTE.] He was one of the first projectors of the South Sea Company, and died in January, 1733. [W.S.J.]
"In the year one thousand seven hundred and seven, the sum of eight hundred twenty-two thousand three hundred and eighty one pounds, fifteen shillings and sixpence, was raised, by continuing part of the general mortgage from one thousand seven hundred and ten to one thousand seven hundred and twelve; but with no provision of interest till August the first, one thousand seven hundred and ten, otherwise than by striking tallies for it on that fund, payable after all the other money borrowed.
"In one thousand seven hundred and eight, the same funds were continued from one thousand seven hundred and twelve to one thousand seven hundred and fourteen, to raise seven hundred twenty-nine thousand sixty-seven pounds fifteen shillings and sixpence; but no provision for interest till August the first, one thousand seven hundred and twelve, otherwise than as before, by striking tallies for it on the same fund, payable after all the rest of the money borrowed. And the discount of tallies then beginning to rise, great part of that money remains still unraised; and there is nothing to pay interest for the money lent, till August the first, one thousand seven hundred and twelve. But the late lord treasurer struck tallies for the full sum directed by the act to be borrowed, great part of which have been delivered in payment to the navy and victualling offices, and some are still in the hands of the government.
"In one thousand seven hundred and nine, part of the same fund was continued from August the first, one thousand seven hundred and fourteen, to August the first, one thousand seven hundred and sixteen, to raise six hundred and forty-five thousand pounds; and no provision for interest till August the first, one thousand seven hundred and fourteen (which was about five years), but by borrowing money on the same fund, payable after the sums before lent; so that little of that money was lent But the tallies were struck for what was unlent, some of which were given out for the payment of the navy and victualling, and some still remain in the hands of the government.
"In one thousand seven hundred and ten, the sums which were before given from one thousand seven hundred and fourteen, to one thousand seven hundred and sixteen, were continued from thence to one thousand seven hundred and twenty, to raise one million two hundred and ninety-six thousand five hundred and fifty-two pounds nine shillings and elevenpence three farthings; and no immediate provision for interest till August the first, one thousand seven hundred and sixteen; only, after the duty of one shilling per bushel on salt should be cleared from the money it was then charged with, and which was not so cleared till Midsummer one thousand seven hundred and twelve last, then that fund was to be applied to pay the interest till August the first, one thousand seven hundred and sixteen, which interest amounted to about seventy-seven thousand seven hundred and ninety-three pounds per annum: and the said salt fund produceth but about fifty-five thousand pounds per annum; so that no money was borrowed upon the general mortgage in one thousand seven hundred and ten, except one hundred and fifty thousand pounds lent by the Swiss cantons; but tallies were struck for the whole sum. These all remained in the late treasurer's hands at the time of his removal, yet the money was expended, which occasioned those great demands upon the commissioners of the treasury who succeeded him, and were forced to pawn those tallies to the bank, or to remitters, rather than sell them at twenty or twenty-five per cent. discount, as the price then was. About two hundred thousand pounds of them they paid to clothiers of the army, and others; and all the rest, being above ninety thousand pounds, have been subscribed into the South Sea Company for the use of the public."
When the Earl of Godolphin was removed from his employment, he left a debt upon the navy of —— millions,[9] all contracted under his administration,[10] which had no Parliament-security, and was daily increased. Neither could I ever learn, whether that lord had the smallest prospect of clearing this incumbrance, or whether there were policy, negligence, or despair at the bottom of this unaccountable management. But the consequences were visible and ruinous; for by this means navy-bills grew to be forty per cent. discount, and upwards; and almost every kind of stores, bought by the navy and victualling offices, cost the government double rates, and sometimes more: so that the public hath directly lost several millions upon this one article, without any sort of necessity, that I could ever hear assigned by the ablest vindicators of that party.
[Footnote 9: "Of millions" in original. "Of —— millions" in 1775. [W.S.J.]
[Footnote 10: See "The Examiner," No. 45, and note in vol. ix. of this edition, p. 295. [W.S.J.]
In this oppressed and entangled state was the kingdom, with relation to its debts, when the Queen removed the Earl of Godolphin from his office, and put it into commission, of which the present treasurer was one. This person had been chosen speaker successively to three Parliaments, was afterwards secretary of state, and always in great esteem with the Queen for his wisdom and fidelity. The late ministry, about two years before their fall, had prevailed with Her Majesty, much against her inclination, to dismiss him from her service; for which they cannot be justly blamed, since he had endeavoured the same thing against them, and very narrowly failed; which makes it the more extraordinary that he should succeed in a second attempt against those very adversaries, who had such fair warning by the first. He is firm and steady in his resolutions, not easily diverted from them after he hath once possessed himself of an opinion that they are right, nor very communicative where he can act by himself, being taught by experience, that a secret is seldom safe in more than one breast. That which occurs to other men after mature deliberation, offers to him as his first thoughts; so that he decides immediately what is best to be done, and therefore is seldom at a loss upon sudden exigencies. He thinks it a more easy and safe rule in politics to watch incidents as they come, and then turn them to the advantage of what he pursues, than pretend to foresee them at a great distance. Fear, cruelty, avarice, and pride, are wholly strangers to his nature; but he is not without ambition. There is one thing peculiar in his temper, which I altogether disapprove, and do not remember to have heard or met with in any other man's character: I mean, an easiness and indifference under any imputation, although he be never so innocent, and although the strongest probabilities and appearance are against him; so that I have known him often suspected by his nearest friends, for some months, in points of the highest importance, to a degree, that they were ready to break with him, and only undeceived by time and accident. His detractors, who charge him with cunning, are but ill acquainted with his character; for, in the sense they take the word, and as it is usually understood, I know no man to whom that mean talent could be with less justice applied, as the conduct of affairs, while he hath been at the helm, doth clearly demonstrate, very contrary to the nature and principles of cunning, which is always employed in serving little turns, proposing little ends, and supplying daily exigencies by little shifts and expedients. But to rescue a prince out of the hands of insolent subjects, bent upon such designs as must probably end in the ruin of the government; to find out means for paying such exorbitant debts as this nation hath been involved in, and reduce it to a better management; to make a potent enemy offer advantageous terms of peace, and deliver up the most important fortress of his kingdom, as a security;[11] and this against all the opposition, mutually raised and inflamed by parties and allies; such performances can only be called cunning by those whose want of understanding, or of candour, puts them upon finding ill names for great qualities of the mind, which themselves do neither possess, nor can form any just conception of. However, it must be allowed, that an obstinate love of secrecy in this minister seems, at distance, to have some resemblance of cunning; for he is not only very retentive of secrets, but appears to be so too, which I number amongst his defects. He hath been blamed by his friends for refusing to discover his intentions, even in those points where the wisest man may have need of advice and assistance, and some have censured him, upon that account, as if he were jealous of power but he hath been heard to answer, "That he seldom did otherwise, without cause to repent"
[Footnote 11: This is surely a piece of Swift's partiality for Oxford; since it practically deprives Bolingbroke of whatever credit was his for the Peace of Utrecht, and that was not a little; certainly more than may be given to Oxford. [T.S.]
However, so undistinguished a caution cannot, in my opinion, be justified, by which the owner loseth many advantages, and whereof all men, who deserved to be confided in, may with some reason complain. His love of procrastination (wherein doubtless nature hath her share) may probably be increased by the same means, but this is an imputation laid upon many other great ministers, who, like men under too heavy a load, let fall that which is of the least consequence, and go back to fetch it when their shoulders are free, for time is often gained, as well as lost, by delay, which at worst is a fault on the securer side.[12] Neither probably is this minister answerable for half the clamour raised against him upon that article: his endeavours are wholly turned upon the general welfare of his country, but perhaps with too little regard to that of particular persons, which renders him less amiable, than he would otherwise have been from the goodness of his humour, and agreeable conversation in a private capacity, and with few dependers. Yet some allowance may perhaps be given to this failing, which is one of the greatest he hath, since he cannot be more careless of other men's fortunes than he is of his own. He is master of a very great and faithful memory, which is of mighty use in the management of public affairs; and I believe there are few examples to be produced in any age, of a person who hath passed through so many employments in the state, endowed with a great share, both of divine and human learning.
[Footnote 12: Unfortunately, procrastination too often ended for Harley in very unpleasant results, and it is not too much to say, this failing was the indirect cause of his downfall. Swift's character of Oxford, as given in this "History," should be compared with that given of him in "An Enquiry into the Behaviour of the Queen's Last Ministry" (vol v, pp 431-434, of present edition). Dr William King, to whom Swift had written in 1736, for certain dates and official extracts to be included in this "History," wrote to Swift (December 7th, 1736), referring to this very matter of Oxford's character. As the letter applies to some other portions of this "History," it will be better if it be given here.
"London, December 7th, 1736