GEORGE II. 1727-1760
BILL FOR A DOWER TO THE PRINCESS ROYAL.
The subsequent debates of this session were occasioned by a bill to prevent the infamous practice of stock-jobbing, which with great difficulty made its way to the house of lords, who proposed some amendments, in consequence of which it was laid aside; and succeeded by another bill establishing a lottery, to raise five hundred thousand pounds for the relief of those who had suffered by the charitable corporation. After having undergone some alteration, it passed through both houses and obtained the royal assent. The king, by message to parliament, had signified his intention to give the princess royal in marriage to the prince of Orange, promising himself their concurrence and assistance, that he might be enabled to bestow such a portion with his eldest daughter as should be suitable to the occasion. The commons immediately resolved, that but of the monies arising from the sale of lands in the island of St. Christopher’s, his majesty should be empowered to apply fourscore thousand pounds as a marriage dower for his daughter; and a clause for this purpose was inserted in the bill, for enabling his majesty to apply five hundred thousand pounds out of the sinking fund for the service of the current year.
The opposition in the house of lords was still more animated, though ineffectual. The debates chiefly turned upon the pension bill, the number of land forces, and a motion made by lord Bathurst for an account of the produce of the forfeited estates which had belonged to the directors of the South-Sea company. The trustees for these estates had charged themselves with a great sum of money, and the lords in the opposition thought they had a right to know how it had been disposed. The ministry had reasons to stifle this inquiry, and therefore opposed it with all their vigour. Nevertheless, the motion was carried after a warm dispute, and the directors of the South-Sea company were ordered to lay the accounts before the house. From this it appeared that the large sums of money arising from the forfeited estates had been distributed among the proprietors, by way of dividend, even before recourse was had to parliament for directions in what manner that produce should be applied: lord Bathurst, therefore, moved for a resolution of the house that the disposal of this money, by way of dividend, without any order or direction of a general court for that purpose, was a violation of the act of parliament made for the disposal thereof, and a manifest injustice done to the proprietors of that stock. The duke of Newcastle, in order to gain time, moved, that as the account was confused, and almost unintelligible, the present directors of the company might be ordered to lay before the house a further and more distinct account of the manner in which the money had been disposed. A violent contest ensued, in the course of which the house divided, and of fifty-seven peers who voted for the delay, forty-six were such as enjoyed preferment in the church, commissions in the army, or civil employments under the government. At length lord Bathurst waived his motion for that time; then the house ordered that the present and former directors of the South-Sea company, together with the late inspectors of their accounts, should attend and be examined. They were accordingly interrogated, and gave so little satisfaction, that lord Bathurst moved for a committee of inquiry; but the question being put, was carried in the negative: yet a very strong protest was entered by the lords in the opposition. The next subject of altercation was the bill for misapplying part of the produce of the sinking fund. It was attacked with all the force of argument, wit, and declamation, by the earl of Strafford, lords Bathurst and Carteret, and particularly by the earl of Chesterfield, who had by this time resigned his staff of lord-steward of the household, and renounced all connexion with the ministry. Lord Bathurst moved for a resolution, importing that, in the opinion of the house, the sinking fund ought for the future to be applied, in time of peace and public tranquillity, to the redemption of those taxes which were most prejudicial to the trade, most burdensome on the manufactures, and most oppressive on the poor of the nation. This motion was overruled, and the bill adopted by the majority. On the eleventh of June, the king gave the royal assent to the bills that were prepared, and closed the session with a speech, in which he took notice of the wicked endeavours that had been lately used to inflame the minds of the people by the most unjust misrepresentations.
DOUBLE ELECTION OF A KING OF POLAND.
Europe was now reinvolved in fresh troubles by a vacancy on the throne of Poland. Augustus died at Warsaw in the end of January, and the neighbouring powers were immediately in commotion. The elector of Saxony, son to the late king, and Stanislaus, whose daughter was married to the French monarch, declared themselves candidates for the Polish throne. The emperor, the czarina, and the king of Prussia, espoused the interests of the Saxon: the king of France supported the pretensions of his father-in-law. The foreign ministers at Warsaw forthwith began to form intrigues among the electors: the marquis de Monti, ambassador from France, exerted himself so successfully, that he soon gained over the primate, and a majority of the catholic dietines, to the interests of Stanislaus; while the Imperial and Russian troops hovered on the frontiers of Poland. The French king no sooner understood that a body of the emperor’s forces was encamped at Silesia, than he ordered the duke of Berwick to assemble an army on the Rhine, and take measures for entering Germany in case the Imperialists should march into Poland. A French fleet set sail for Dantzic, while Stanislaus travelled through Germany in disguise to Poland, and concealed himself in the house of the French ambassador at Warsaw. As the day of election approached, the Imperial, Russian, and Prussian ministers delivered in their several declarations, by way of protest, against the contingent election of Stanislaus, as a person proscribed, disqualified, depending upon a foreign power, and connected with the Turks and other infidels. The Russian general Lasci entered Poland at the head of fifty thousand men: the diet of the election was opened with the usual ceremony on the twenty-fifth day of August. Prince Viesazowski, chief of the Saxon interest, retired to the other side of the Vistula, with three thousand men, including some of the nobility who adhered to that party. Nevertheless, the primate proceeded to the election: Stanislaus was unanimously chosen king; and appeared in the electoral field, where he was received with loud acclamations. The opposite party soon increased to ten thousand men; protested against the election, and joined the Russian army, which advanced by speedy marches. King Stanislaus finding himself unable to cope with such adversaries, retired with the primate and French ambassador to Dantzic, leaving the palatine of Kiow at Warsaw. This general attacked the Saxon palace, which was surrendered upon terms: then the soldiers and inhabitants plundered the houses belonging to the grandees who had declared for Augustus, as well as the hotel of the Russian minister. In the meantime, the Poles, who had joined the Muscovites, finding it impracticable to pass the Vistula before the expiration of the time fixed for the session of the diet, erected a kelo at Cracow, where the elector of Saxony was chosen and proclaimed by the bishop of Cracow, king of Poland, under the name of Augustus III., on the sixth day of October. They afterwards passed the river, and the palatine of Kiow retiring towards Cracow, they took possession of Warsaw, where in their turn they plundered the palaces and houses belonging to the opposite party.