Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 59.djvu/188

 a severe test. Marlborough left for Holland at the end of March, and it fell to Walpole to transact his business with the queen. Anne's distrust of the whigs would in itself have involved him in some difficulty, for appointments in the army were considered to be the sovereign's special prerogative, and the recommendations of Walpole's chief were frequently disregarded for those of Mrs. Abigail Masham [q. v.], notwithstanding the indignation of the duchess. The inevitable antagonism between Walpole and the favourite naturally enhanced his interest with the duchess. On 21 Jan. 1710 he was appointed to the more profitable place of treasurer of the navy, but he seems to have held his post at the war office till the following September. His new appointment was, as the duchess puts it, ‘by my interest wholly’ (Correspondence of Duchess of Marlborough, i. 288). It was while Walpole was at the war office that Marlborough successfully carried through the campaigns rendered memorable by Oudenarde and Malplaquet, and the general's despatches from abroad show the reliance placed by him upon Walpole's business capacity and personal loyalty. But, notwithstanding his victories, the Marlborough interest at court was on the wane. The intrigues of Harley and Mrs. Masham had prevailed. The whigs began to be dismissed one by one. In April 1710 the lord chamberlain, the Marquis of Kent, was replaced by the Duke of Shrewsbury, known to be friendly to Harley. Sunderland was dismissed on 13 June, and Godolphin on 8 Aug. On 28 Sept. George Granville, a tory, succeeded Walpole at the war office. Marlborough, writing to Walpole from his camp on 20 Oct., after expressing his vexation at this news, adds, ‘I am expecting to hear by every post of a new treasurer of the navy.’ But party government was not yet an established principle, and for the time Walpole retained that place.

While at the war office Walpole was entrusted by Godolphin with the management of the House of Commons. He had a whig majority at his back, the trial of strength having been the contest for the speakership of John Smith (1655–1723) [q. v.] against William Bromley (1664–1732) [q. v.] on 24 Oct. 1705, in which Smith was successful by forty-three votes (Hist. MSS. Comm. 12th Rep. App. v. 183). Godolphin, as Walpole afterwards told Etough, reposed so much confidence in him that he even entrusted him with the composition of the speeches from the throne. On 13 Dec. 1709 John Dolben [q. v.], at the instance of Godolphin, called the attention of the House of Commons to Sacheverell's sermons [see ]. Godolphin had been irritated by a personal allusion to himself as Volpone ( Works, iii. 173), and Sunderland was strong for impeachment. Walpole, with that moderation which marked his character, opposed, but, yielding to Godolphin's pressure, eventually consented to act as one of the managers for the commons (Commons' Journals, 14 Dec. 1709). Walpole's speech was delivered on 28 Feb., and may be read in the ‘State Trials’ (xv. 112). He confined himself for the most part to the doctrine of non-resistance. His argument on this point is quoted by Burke for its constitutional principle in his ‘Appeal from the New to the Old Whigs’ (Works, iv. 437).

In the early summer of 1710 Walpole suddenly fell seriously ill. His complaint was described by his clerk, James Taylor, in a letter of 16 June to Walpole's brother Horatio as ‘collero morbus,’ ‘which put all about him under dreadfull apprehensions for four hours’ (Townshend Papers, p. 67). In the autumn the consequences of Sacheverell's trial justified his prescience (see, Works, iii. 189). The tories had boasted that none of the managers of the impeachment should be returned, and had taken care ever since the judgment delivered in March to keep alive the popular enthusiasm for the culprit. At the general election the whigs sustained an unparalleled defeat. Walpole himself contested the county of Norfolk for the first and the last time (cf. Onslow MSS. p. 518). On 11 Oct. he was declared at the bottom of the poll with 2,397 votes, eight hundred behind the two winning candidates (, Parliaments of England, 1844, i. 220). He had, however, secured himself against exclusion from parliament, having been returned for King's Lynn on 7 Oct. Harley, being desirous of strengthening himself against the Jacobites by the inclusion of a few whigs in his administration, made flattering overtures to Walpole. He was worth, he told him, half his party. When flattery proved ineffective, he tried threats. He sent him word that he had in his possession a note for a contract of forage endorsed by Walpole. The message had a significance which Walpole could not have failed to appreciate. Walpole remained firm and still held to his post. On 2 Jan. 1711 he wrote officially acknowledging the receipt of his dismissal (Dartmouth MSS. p. 303).

Walpole was now the leader of the opposition in the House of Commons. Harley's first object was to make peace. On 29 Nov. Walpole moved an amendment to the