Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Second, Volume 1 (of 3)Walpole, Horace
History
Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Second, Volume 1 (of 3)
Walpole, Horace
Great Britain -- History -- George II, 1727-1760
If the decency and consistency of this speech had wanted a foil, it
would have found it in Lord Talbot’s subsequent harangue; who said,
that if the Motion had come from a person of less known integrity,
he should have thought it dictated by a spirit of confusion. That
some indeed love the Crown, some a jumble of Administrations. That
a very sensible man drunk, may make a very good Jacobite: that he
knew Fawcett, and had had a good opinion of him; but that often
where he thought there was most perfection, he had found least.
That he would not have acted like Lord Ravensworth--yet--(what a
_yet_ after such a prelude!) shall a private Council exclude the
activity of the greater? The management of the Royal Children is
of public import: shall the Council engross the direction of them?
Hereafter, if this precedent is suffered, a cabal of Ministers
will be worse than the Star-chamber. The precedent will be used to
stifle all inquiries against sycophants, by applying to the Crown
to appoint a trial by the Cabinet Council.
Hayter, Bishop of Norwich, the late Preceptor, with no less
decency than Lord Harcourt, but with a little more artful desire
of inflaming the prejudice against Stone and Murray, said that
he would not declare the reasons of his resignation till he
should be forced. That all he would say was, that he had met with
obstructions from inferiors, _most cruel obstructions_. That he did
not think himself at liberty to appeal from the King, _yet would
willingly tell if he was obliged to it_. This insinuating offer the
Duke of Bedford had not the presence of mind to take up; and the
Bishop’s gauntlet not being challenged, he could not with propriety
go any farther. Perhaps the Ministry had not more reason to triumph
on the event of the day, than on the Duke of Bedford’s overlooking
so fair an opening into their most vulnerable part!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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