no longer remembered. The country forgot the long prosperity it had enjoyed, the taxes that had been repealed, the wisdom of the minister in restoring confidence after the collapse of the South Sea scheme, in preserving peace for a longer period than ever had been known since the days when a Stuart had crossed the Tweed to ascend the English throne, and in relieving commerce from its burdens, and the land from its heavy charges. Only one fact was now remembered, that an unsuccessful war was being waged, and that Walpole was at the head of the administration, and consequently the cause of all the evils the nation was suffering from.

He was strongly advised by his political adherents to give up the seals. "I must inform you," he writes to the Duke of Devonshire, "that the panic was so great among what I should call my own friends, that they all declared my retiring was become absolutely necessary, as the only means to carry on the public business." His own family urged him also to submit to the verdict of parliamentary fortune, and not to oppose a hostile House of Commons. Had he consulted his own wishes, he would, he said, still have remained at the head of affairs, in spite of his political reverses, but when he found that in addition to a formidable majority in the House of Commons, and to a strong feeling against him out-of-doors, his Cabinet declined

to serve under him, and threatened desertion, he saw that there was no alternative but to tender his resignation. On handing the seals to the King, the minister knelt down to kiss the royal hand, and it is said that his Majesty was so moved at the departure of his chief adviser, after the many years of faithful service he had rendered the Crown, that he burst into tears. Walpole was raised to the Upper House by the title of the Earl of Orford, and a handsome pension granted him.

Shortly after his resignation a Committee was appointed to inquire into his administration of affairs during the last ten years. It was confidently expected that the moment the Committee entered upon its labours the grossest frauds and the most nefarious corruption would be at once discovered. "I fear not to declare," said Pitt, who was on the Committee, 'that I expect, in consequence of such inquiry, to find that our treasure has been exhausted, not to humble our enemies, or to obviate domestic insurrections, not to support our allies, or to suppress our factions; but for purposes which no man who loves his country can think of without indignation, the purchase of votes, the bribing of boroughs, the enriching of hirelings, the multiplying of dependents, and the corruption of Parliaments."

Lord Limerick was chosen Chairman, and without

delay the packed jury proceeded upon its prejudiced work. The Treasury books were rigidly overhauled, official papers keenly looked through, and witnesses most closely examined. Yet with what result? It was found that this minister, who had been accused of so freely pillaging from the State for his own evil ends, and whose administration had been steeped in bribery and corruption, had been guilty of the heinous offence of offering the Mayor of Weymouth the post of collector of that port provided he would, during the election, obtain the nomination of a returning officer; that a few revenue officials who had refused to vote for the Government candidate had been dismissed; that a contract had been entered into by which the contractors had gained fourteen per cent. ; and that there had been some profusion in the expenditure of the Secret Service money. The mountain had at last been delivered, and this most ridiculous mouse was the fruit of its travail !

That Walpole was guilty of bribery and corruption, that he paid for votes in the House of Commons with the guineas of the Treasury, that he supported certain newspapers with public money, and that he drew upon the funds of the Secret Service to reward his partisans, cannot be denied; but that he was the incarnation of fraud and dishonesty that malignity represented him is obviously untrue. If Walpole had

been the wholesale poisoner of parliamentary purity his opponents alleged, it seems strange that a hostile Committee, with the fullest powers of investigation, should have failed to discover all traces of his nefarious proceedings. When our enemies acquit us we must indeed be blameless. We are not surprised, therefore, to hear that when the report of the Committee, from which so much scandal had been anticipated, made its appearance, it was received by the public with contempt.

With the failure of this inquiry the political career of Walpole came to an end. Save when, in moments of emergency, he was consulted by his Sovereign he passed his declining years at Houghton, superintending the alterations he was making at his splendid country seat, and fitting up his magnificent picture gallery. Though fallen from power he was still the confidential adviser of the King, and his words carried a weight such as no minister in the Cabinet possessed. He died on the 18th of March, 1745, in the sixty-ninth year of his age. He lies buried within the parish church of Houghton, and neither monument nor inscription record the spot where his remains have been interred.

"So peaceful rest, without a stone, a name

Which once had 'honours, titles, wealth, and fame.'"

CHATHAM,

THE MINISTER OF WAR.

1708 MAY 11, 1778.

As Walpole was essentially the Minister of Peace, so the haughty Chatham was essentially the Minister of War. To the proud, imperious nature of the first Pitt, there was but one alternative for a great nation to accept whose honour had been slighted or whose demands had been ignored. With the delays of arbitration, the fencings of diplomacy, or the exactions of empty apologies, Chatham had little sympathy. He placed his faith in the country which was ever ready to grasp the sword, and to appeal to the God of Battles for the redress of the grievances she complained of, or to enforce the claims she brought forward. He would rather that she were a bully than a craven. In his eyes the only means by which a people could command respect and maintain authority in the family of nations was by the display of a resolute and warlike policy. He was the first of our parliamentary statesmen who believed in, and carried out the maxim -If peace be sought after, prepare for war.