Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 57.djvu/117

Townshend treaties at the same time, but not to either severally. The alliance with the emperor was signed without their accession at Westminster on 25 May 1716. The treaty with the regent—a reciprocal dynastic guarantee with engagements for the permanent exclusion of the pretender from France and the partial demolition of Mardyck harbour—was signed at The Hague, also without the accession of the States-General, on 28 Nov. (N.S.) It was not until 4 Jan. 1717 (N.S.) that the treaty, then re-signed at The Hague, received the accession of the States-General. The delay in signing the separate treaty with France was caused partly by the insistence of George I on the immediate banishment of the pretender beyond the Alps, partly by the cautious deliberation of the French plenipotentiary Dubois, partly by the scruples of his English confrère, [q. v.], who promised the Dutch not to sign without them, and left the completion of the business to Cadogan [see, first ] (, Le Régent, l'Abbé Dubois et les Anglais, i. 219–387). Townshend had not shared Walpole's scruples. He had furnished him with ample powers for signing either a joint or a separate treaty; he had enjoined him to sign the separate treaty; he had refused him the leave of absence which he sought as a means of evading the responsibility. Nevertheless, by his close connection with Walpole, Townshend was exposed to the suspicion of secretly inspiring his conduct, and of this Sunderland [see, third ] made abundant and unscrupulous use in order to damage his credit with the king, who attached immense importance to the French alliance, and was proportionately vexed by the delay in its completion. This charge Townshend rebutted only to find himself the object of graver imputations. He had committed the tactical error of remaining in England when the king, with Stanhope, went to Hanover (7 July 1716), and courting the Prince of Wales, whose confidence he speedily gained. With the prince he opposed the wild project entertained by Bernstorff and the king (but rejected as impracticable by Stanhope who was at Hanover) of kidnapping the czar by way of security for the evacuation by Russian troops of Mecklenburg or Holstein where they took up winter quarters during the war with Denmark. He had failed—apparently had as yet not even attempted—to conciliate the Maypole, who thought her Irish title, Duchess of Munster, below her dignity [See ], and was accordingly ripe for any intrigue which might turn out the principal minister. His strict integrity had arrayed against him the smaller fry of greedy Hanoverian courtiers with whom Cadogan and Sunderland made common cause (, Walpole, ii. 58–64, 75–8, 84–92, 103–13). Hence the charge of obstructing the completion of the French alliance was soon followed by an insinuation of complicity in the supposed intrigues of Argyll to place the prince upon the throne. For this there was no more colour than an incautious suggestion in one of Townshend's letters that, in the event of the king wintering abroad, it would be politic to amplify the discretionary powers of the regent; but the king believed, or affected to believe, in his guilt, and on 15 Dec. 1716 deprived him of the seals. To allay the consternation caused by his dismissal and to prevent his going into opposition, he was offered the lord-lieutenancy of Ireland, a post which did not then involve residence in that country, and was at length persuaded to accept it as a step to higher office (13 Feb. 1716–17). The compromise failed. He proved but a languid supporter of the government, which in consequence carried the vote on account of the measures proposed against Sweden only by the narrow majority of four. Townshend was thereupon dismissed (9 April), and his dismissal was the signal for the resignation of Walpole and the reconstruction of the cabinet under Stanhope (ib. ii. 150–70).

Townshend signed the somewhat factious protests against the Mutiny Act of 1718, in which exception was taken to the delegation of the power of capital punishment to courts-martial and the exemption of the military from the jurisdiction of the civil magistrate (20 Feb.). On the whole, however, he abstained from overt political action during Stanhope's administration, but attached himself to the Prince of Wales, whose reconciliation with the king in April 1720 he, in concert with Walpole, materially contributed to effect. He was then permitted to kiss the king's hand, and on 11 June following was appointed president of the council. He was also then, and thenceforth throughout the reign, on the eve of the king's departure for Hanover, named one of the lords justices or council of regency. On Stanhope's death he was reappointed secretary of state for the northern department (10 Feb. 1720–1).

Townshend's integrity was unstained by the South Sea disclosures. His discernment in commercial matters is evinced by his opposition to the bill for prohibiting shipbuilding for the foreign market (11 Jan.