1735
Notwithstanding this discouragement, the earl of Abingdon moved, that although the petition was dismissed, an inquiry might be set on foot touching an affair of such consequence to the liberties of the kingdom. The earl of Hay declaring his belief that no such illegal methods had been practised, the other produced a pamphlet, intituled, The Protests of a great Number of Noble Lords, entered by them at the last Election of Peers for Scotland. Exceptions being taken to a pamphlet, as an object unworthy of their notice, lord Bathurst exhibited an authentic copy of those protests, extracted from the journal of that election, signed by the two principal clerks, and witnessed by two gentlemen then attending in the lobby. These were accordingly read, and plainly demonstrated the truth of the allegations contained in the petition. Nothing could be more scandalous, arrogant, and shamefully flagrant, than the conduct and deportment of those who acted the part of understrappers to the ministry on this occasion. But all this demonstration, adorned and enforced by the charms and energy of eloquence, was like preaching in a desert. A motion was made for adjourning, and carried in the affirmative: a protest was entered, and the whole affair consigned to oblivion. Divers other motions were made successively by the lords in the opposition, and rejected by the invincible power of a majority. The uninterrupted success of the ministry did not, however, prevent them from renewing the struggle as often as an opportunity offered. They disputed the continuation of the salt-tax, and the bill for enabling the king to apply the sum of one million out of the sinking fund for the service of the current year, though success did not attend their endeavours. They supported with all their might a bill sent up from the commons, explaining and amending an act of the Scottish parliament, for preventing wrongous imprisonment, and against undue delays in trials. This was all the natives of Scotland had in lieu of the habeas-corpus act; though it did not screen them from oppression. Yet the earl of Hay undertook to prove they were on a footing with their neighbours of England in this respect; and the bill was thrown out on a division. The session was closed on the fifteenth of May, when the king in his speech to both houses declared that the plan of pacification, concerted between him and the states-general, had not produced the desired effect. He thanked the commons for the supplies they had granted with such cheerfulness and despatch. He signified his intention to visit his German dominions; and told them he should constitute the queen regent of the realm in his absence. Immediately after the prorogation his majesty embarked for Holland, in his way to Hanover.
MISUNDERSTANDING BETWEEN THE COURTS OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.
By this time the good understanding between the courts of Madrid and Lisbon was destroyed by a remarkable incident. The Portuguese ambassador at Madrid having allowed his servants to rescue a criminal from the officers of justice, all the servants concerned in that rescue were dragged from his house to prison, by the Spanish king’s order, with circumstances of rigour and disgrace. His Portuguese majesty being informed of this outrage, ordered reprisals to be made upon the servants of the Spanish ambassador in Lisbon. The two ministers withdrew abruptly to their respective courts. The two monarchs expressed their mutual resentment. The king of Spain assembled a body of troops on the frontiers of Portugal; and his Portuguese majesty had recourse to the assistance of king George. Don Marcos Antonio d’Alzeveda was despatched to London with the character of envoy-extraordinary; and succeeded in his commission according to his wish. In a little time after the king’s departure from England, sir John Norris sailed from Spithead with a powerful squadron, in order to protect the Portuguese against the Spaniards; and on the ninth day of June arrived at Lisbon, where he was welcomed as a deliverer. Mr. Keene, the British envoy at the court of Spain, had communicated to his catholic majesty the resolution of his master to send a powerful squadron to Lisbon, with orders to guard that coast from insults, and secure the Brazil fleet, in which the merchants of Great Britain were deeply interested. Don Joseph Patinho, minister of his catholic majesty, delivered a memorial to Mr. Keene, representing that such an expedition would affect the commerce of Spain, by intimidating foreign merchants from embarking their merchandise in the flota. But, in all probability, it prevented a rupture between the two crowns, and disposed the king of Spain to listen to terms of accommodation.
PRELIMINARIES SIGNED BY THE EMPEROR AND THE KING OF FRANCE.
The powers in alliance against the house of Austria having rejected the plan of pacification concerted by the king of Great Britain and the states-general, Mr. Wal-pole, ambassador at the Hague, presented a memorial to their high mightinesses, desiring they would, without loss of time, put themselves in a posture of defence by an augmentation of their forces by sea and land; that they might take such vigorous steps in concert with Great Britain, as the future conjuncture of affairs might require. But before they would subject themselves to such expense, they resolved to make further trial of their influence with the powers in alliance against the emperor; and conferences were renewed with the ministers of those allies. The affairs of Poland became more and more unfavourable to the interest of Stanislaus; for though a great number of the Polish nobility engaged in a confederacy to support his claim, and made repeated efforts in his behalf, the palatine of Kiow submitted to Augustus; and even his brother the primate, after having sustained a long imprisonment, and many extraordinary hardships, was obliged to acknowledge that prince his sovereign. In Italy, the arms of the allies still continued to prosper. Don Carlos landed in Sicily, and reduced the whole island almost without opposition; while the Imperialists were forced to abandon all the territories they possessed in Italy, except the Mantuan. The emperor being equally unable to cope with the French armies on the Rhine, implored succours of the czarina, who sent thirty thousand men to his assistance. This vigorous interposition, and the success of Augustus in Poland, disposed the court of Versailles to a pacification. A secret negotiation was begun between France and the house of Austria; and the preliminaries were signed without the concurrence or knowledge of Spain, Sardinia, and the maritime powers. In these articles it was stipulated that France should restore all the conquests she had made in Germany; that the reversion of the dukedom of Tuscany should be vested in the duke of Lorraine; that Lorraine should be allotted to king Stanislaus, and after his death be united to the crown of France; that the emperor should possess the Milanese, the Mantuan, and Parma; that the king of Sardinia should enjoy Vigevano and Novara; that Don Carlos should be acknowledged king of Naples and Sicily, and retain the island of Elba, with all the Spanish territories on the coast of Tuscany; and that France should guarantee the pragmatic sanction.