In 1742, under the opposition of Pulteney, the Tories called upon Paxton, the Solicitor to the Treasury, and Scrope, the Secretary to the Treasury, to account for the specific sum of £1,147,211, which it was proved they had received from the minister. No account was ever furnished. George Vaughan, a confidant of Sir Robert Walpole, was examined before the Commons as to a practice charged upon that minister, of obliging the possessor of a place or office to pay a certain sum out of the profits of it to some person or persons recommended by the minister. Vaughan, who does not appear to have ventured any direct denial, managed to avoid giving a categorical reply, and to get excused from answering on the ground that he might criminate himself. Agitation was commenced for the revival of Triennial Parliaments, for the renewal of the clause of the Act of Settlement, by which pensioners and placemen were excluded from the House of Commons, and for the abolition of standing armies in time of peace. The Whigs, however, successfully crushed out the whole of this agitation. Strong language was heard in the House of Commons, where Sir James Dashwood said that "it was no wonder that the people were then unwilling to support the Government, when a weak, narrow-minded prince occupied the throne." A very amusing squib appeared in 1742, when Sir Robert Walpole's power was giving way, partly under the bold attacks of the Tories, led by Cotton and Shippen; partly before the malcontent Whigs under the guidance of Carteret and Pulteney; partly before the rising power of the young England party led by William Pitt; and somewhat from the jealousy, if not treachery, of his colleague, the Duke of Newcastle. The squib pictures the King's embarrassment and anger at being forced to dismiss Walpole, and to Carteret, whom he has charged to form a ministry:-- "Quoth the King: 'My good lord, perhaps you've been told That I used to abuse you a little of old, But now bring whom you will, and eke turn away, Let but me and my money at Walmoden stay." Lord Carteret, explaining to the King whom he shall keep of the old ministry, includes the Duke of Newcastle:-- "Though Newcastle's false, as he's silly I know, By betraying old Robin to me long ago, As well as all those who employed him before, Yet I leave him in place, but I leave him no power. "For granting his heart is as black as his hat, With no more truth in this than there's sense beneath that, Yet, as he's a coward, he'll shake when I frown; You called him a rascal, I'll use him like one. "For your foreign affairs, howe'er they turn out, At least I'll take care you shall make a great rout; Then cock your great hat, strut, bounce, and look bluff, For, though kick'd and cuff'd here, you shall there kick and cuff