The next object that excited the resentment of the commons was the scheme of a lottery to be drawn at Hamburgh in the king’s German dominions. The house appointed a committee to inquire into this and other lotteries at that time on foot in London. The scheme was published, on pretence of raising a subscription for maintaining a trade between Great Britain and the king’s territories on the Elbe; but it was a mysterious scene of iniquity, which the committee, with all their penetration, could not fully discover. They reported, however, that it was an infamous fraudulent undertaking, whereby many unwary persons had been drawn in, to their great loss: that the manner of carrying it on had been a manifest violation of the laws of the kingdom: that the managers and agents of this lottery had, without any authority for so doing, made use of his majesty’s royal name, thereby to give countenance to the infamous project, and induce his majesty’s subjects to engage or be concerned therein. A bill was brought in to suppress this lottery; and to oblige the managers of it to make restitution of the money they had received from the contributors. At the same time the house resolved, That John lord viscount Barrington had been notoriously guilty of promoting, abetting, and carrying on their fraudulent undertaking; for which offence he should be expelled the house. The court of Vienna having erected an East-India company at Os-tend, upon a scheme formed by one Colebrooke an English merchant, sir Nathaniel Gould represented to the house of commons the great detriment which the English East-India company had already received, and were likely further to sustain, by this Ostend company. The house immediately resolved, That for the subjects of this kingdom to subscribe, or be concerned in encouraging any subscription, to promote an East-India company now erecting in the Austrian Netherlands, was a high crime and misdemeanor; and a law was enacted for preventing British subjects from engaging in that enterprise. By another act, relating to the South-Sea company, the two millions of stock which had been annihilated were revived, added to the capital, and divided among the proprietors. A third law passed, for the more effectual execution of justice in a part of Southwark called the Mint, where a great number of debtors had taken sanctuary, on the supposition that it was a privileged place. On the twenty-seventh clay of May the session was closed, with a speech that breathed nothing but panegyric, acknowledgment, and affection to a parliament which had complied with all his majesty’s wishes.
GEORGE I, 1714—1727
AFFAIRS OF THE CONTINENT.
His majesty having ennobled the son of Mr. Robert Walpole, in consideration of the father’s services, made a good number of church promotions. He admitted the imprisoned lords and gentlemen to bail; granted a pardon to lord Bolingbroke; and ordered the bishop of Rochester to be conveyed to the continent. Then he himself set out for Hanover, leaving the administration of his kingdoms in the hands of a regency, lord Har-court being one of the justices. The king was attended by the two secretaries, lords Townshend and Carteret, who were counted able negotiators. The affairs of the continent had begun to take a new turn. The interests and connexions of the different princes were become perplexed and embarrassed; and king George resolved to unravel them by dint of negotiation. Understanding that a treaty was on the carpet between the czar and the king of Sweden, favourable to the duke of Holstein’s pretensions to Sleswick, the possession of which the elector of Hanover had guaranteed to Denmark, his majesty began to be in pain for Bremen and Verden. The regent of France and the king of Spain had now compromised all differences; and their reconciliation was cemented by a double marriage between Philip’s sons and the regent’s daughters. The former proposed new treaties to England; but insisted upon the restitution of Gibraltar and Port-Mahon, as well as upon the king’s openly declaring against the Ostend company. His Britannic majesty was apprehensive, that, should the emperor be hard pressed on that subject, he might join the czar and the king of Sweden, and promote their designs in favour of the duke of Holstein. On the other hand, all the Italian powers exclaimed against the treaty of London. The pope had protested against any thing that might have been decided at Cambray to the prejudice of his right. Memorials to the same effect had been presented by the king of Sardinia, the dukes of Tuscany, Parma, and Modena. France and Spain were inclined to support these potentates against the house of Austria. Europe seemed to be on the eve of a new war. King George was entangled in such a variety of treaties and interests, that he knew not well how to extricate himself from the troublesome engagements he had contracted. By declaring for the emperor, he must have countenanced the new establishment at Ostend, which was so prejudicial to his British subjects, and incurred the resentment of France, Spain, and their allies of Italy. In renouncing the interest of the emperor, he would have exposed his German dominions. In vain he exhorted the emperor to relax in his disputes with Spain, and give up the Ostend company, which was so detrimental and disagreeable to his faithful allies; the court of Vienna promised in general to observe the treaties which it had concluded, but declined entering into any particular discussion; so that all his majesty’s endeavours ended in contracting closer connexions with Prussia and Denmark. All those negotiations carried on, all those treaties concluded by king George, with almost every prince and state in Christendom, which succeeded one another so fast, and appear at first view so intricate and unaccountable, were founded upon two simple and natural principles, namely, the desire of ascertaining his acquisitions as elector of Hanover, and his resolution to secure himself against the disaffection of his British subjects, as well as the efforts of the pretender.
CLAMOUR IN IRELAND ON ACCOUNT OF WOOD’S COINAGE.
Great Britain at this period enjoyed profound tranquillity. Ireland was a little ruffled by an incident which seemed to have been misrepresented to the people of that kingdom. William Wood had obtained a patent for furnishing Ireland with copper currency, in which it was deficient. A great clamour was raised against this coin. The parliament of that kingdom, which met in September, resolved, that it would be prejudicial to the revenue, destructive of trade, and of dangerous consequence to the rights of the subject; that the patent had been obtained by misrepresentation; that the halfpence wanted weight; that, even if the terms of the patent had been complied with, there would have been a great loss to the nation; that granting the power of coinage to a private person had ever been highly prejudicial to the kingdom, and would at all times be of dangerous consequence. Addresses from both houses were presented to the king on this subject. The affair was referred to the lords of the privy-council of England. They justified the conduct of the patentee, upon the report of Sir Isaac Newton and other officers of the Mint, who had made an assay and trial of Wood’s halfpence, and found he had complied with the terms of the patent. They declared that this currency exceeded in goodness, fineness, and value of metal, all the copper money which had been coined for Ireland, in the reigns of king Charles II., king James II., king William and queen Mary. The privy-council likewise demonstrated, that his majesty’s predecessors had always exercised the undoubted prerogative of granting patents for copper coinage in Ireland to private persons: that none of these patents had been so beneficial to the kingdom as this granted to William Wood, who had not obtained it in an unprecedented manner, but after a reference to the attorney and solicitor-general, and after Sir Isaac Newton had been consulted in every particular: finally, they proved, by a great number of witnesses, that there was a real want of such money in Ireland. Notwithstanding this decision, the ferment of the Irish nation was industriously kept up by clamour, pamphlets, papers, and lampoons, written by dean Swift and other authors; so that Wood voluntarily reduced his coinage from the value of one hundred thousand to forty thousand pounds. Thus the noise was silenced. The commons of Ireland passed an act for accepting the affirmation of the quakers instead of an oath; and voted three hundred and forty thousand pounds towards discharging the debt of the nation, which amounted to about double that sum.