But Walpole and the other friends of Townshend took an early opportunity of showing their discontent at the treatment of their leader, and it became necessary to dismiss them. The direction of the Government thus fell into the hands of Stanhope, as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Sunderland and Addison became Secretaries of State, and James Craggs Secretary at War. The occasion of the final schism was a demand for a supply to oppose the intrigues of the King of Sweden. The lukewarmness of Walpole's support was so marked that his friends and those of Townshend voted against Government, and the supplies were carried by a majority of four only. The fraction of the Whigs who thus left office at once passed into vigorous opposition; yet the crisis was one which should have overpowered party feeling.
Danger to England from Charles XII. and Alberoni.
The state of Europe was such as to threaten difficulty, even danger, to England. Two statesmen of unusual ability were at work in Europe; to both of them the fall of the new Government in England was an object, and when their intrigues for a moment brought them together, there was a brief interval of real danger. These were Charles XII. of Sweden, and Alberoni, the Prime Minister of Spain.
Charles XII.
Charles had found himself thwarted in his schemes for re-establishing his power by the opposition of the English King. The same opposition had checked the Czar in his ambitious schemes on Mecklenburg. In union with his minister, Görtz, an adventurer who had passed into his service from that of the Prince of Gotthorp, Charles determined on a new combination of the North to suit the altered politics of Europe. He allied himself with his old enemy the Czar, and despatched Görtz to Holland, to see what he could do in France and England. In each of those countries he found it possible to enter into communication with a large discontented minority. In France, the Duke of Maine, irritated at the loss of the position which the late King's will would have given him, had put himself at the head of the older and graver statesmen, who clung to the old policy of enmity with England. In England, the Jacobites were still looking out for foreign support. To both countries Görtz sent an agent,—while Spaar was, if possible, to produce a change of government in France, Gyllenborg was instructed in England to promise the Tories the assistance of 12,000 men under the personal command of the King of Sweden. In seeking assistance for his plans, Görtz had come across another intrigue tending in the same direction. He found in Alberoni a man whose views were for the time identical with his own, and Spanish money found its way largely both to the Pretender and to the Swedish agents. Fortunately the English Government obtained information of what was going on. Justly holding that his ambassadorial rights were forfeited by his treason, they apprehended Gyllenborg and seized his papers, and persuaded Holland to act in the same manner with regard to Görtz. The papers thus seized afforded full justification for what they had done. But though thwarted in this scheme, both Charles and the Czar continued to act in unison with Spain against the interests of England. It was to meet this plot that the supply was demanded which caused the final schism in the English ministry. The death of Charles in September 1718, at the siege of Friedrichshalle, whither he had gone in his haste to secure Norway, the possession of which was a part of his bargain with Russia, prevented the Northern branch of the intrigue from bearing fruits, and a revolution in Sweden, which changed it into little more than an oligarchical republic, removed it for more than sixty years from the scene of history.
Alberoni's plots were of more importance. He was one of those statesmen who owe their rise to the democratic character of the Roman Church. The son of a market gardener, of a singularly undignified exterior, he had found means to make himself indispensable Alberoni. to the Duke of Vendome during the war of the Spanish succession, and had subsequently established his position in Spain by bringing about the marriage of Philip with Elizabeth of Parma. His object was entirely patriotic; he desired to replace Spain in the list of great European nations. For this purpose he set to work with remarkable success to revive the industry and wealth of the country. But his views reached further than this; he aimed at the destruction of the Treaty of Utrecht. By that treaty Austria had gained almost all that Spain had lost. It was therefore against Austria that his designs were chiefly directed. Knowing of the irritation which existed between Austria and England with regard to the Barrier Treaty, and believing that France would be unwilling to do anything to the disadvantage of a Bourbon kingdom of its own creation, he supposed that Austria would be without allies. To secure friendship with England, he even granted her great commercial advantages. The defensive alliance between England and Austria, in 1716, was the first blow to his plan. The subsequent conclusion, in 1717, of the Triple Alliance opened his eyes to the probable policy of France. It was then that he threw himself into the intrigues of the Jacobites and the party of the Duke of Maine, and put himself into communication with Charles of Sweden. Alberoni's chief object was to destroy the Austrian power in Italy. Conscious that Spain had gained in strength by the loss of her widespread foreign dependencies, he had no intention of conquering that country. But he wished to restrict the Austrian power there, firstly, by the establishment of younger branches of the Spanish house in Sicily (at the instant belonging by the Treaty of Utrecht to Victor Amadeus of Savoy), and in the duchies of Parma and Tuscany, where the reigning houses were drawing towards extinction, and to which Elizabeth Farnese had claims; and, secondly, by the increase of the territory of Savoy, which he designed to compensate for the loss of Sicily by the cession of a portion of Lombardy. The possession of Sicily was therefore of the first importance to him. But Austria had already been negotiating with the powers of the Triple Alliance for the exchange of that island for Sardinia. Alberoni himself desired to wait till Spain had acquired more power at home, but the apprehension by the Austrians of a newly appointed Spanish inquisitor roused the anger of Philip V., and, against his will, Alberoni was hurried into war. To prevent the exchange of Sicily he at once took possession of Sardinia, and would probably have proceeded to attack Sicily, when the Powers of the Triple Alliance intervened.
Opposition of the Triple Alliance.
Their offer of mediation involved the renunciation on the part of Austria of all claims on the Spanish monarchy, which had never hitherto been dropped,—on the part of Spain of all claims on the Italian provinces. The exchange of Sicily for Sardinia was to be carried out, and Parma and Tuscany to be given to Don Carlos. Enraged at this offer, the work of men, as he said, "who cut and pared countries as they would Dutch cheeses," Alberoni at once set to work all the apparatus his intrigue had prepared. The anger of Savoy was aroused at the loss of Sicily; the Turks, already at war with Austria, were subsidized and urged to further exertions; Ragotski, Prince of Transylvania, was brought forward to demand his hereditary dominions, to hamper Austria on the east; the Spanish envoy in France busily stirred up faction there; Charles XII. and the Czar were urged to immediate action; and an expedition against England, headed by Ormond or the Pretender himself, was set on foot. The whole of Europe seemed involved. The mediating Powers found themselves likely to be drawn into war. Stanhope was removed from his position as First Lord of the Treasury, and made Secretary of State for the Southern Department, which included foreign affairs, and on June 4, 1718, Admiral Byng set sail from England for the Mediterranean.