as could be desired; property was secure under a steady administration of justice, subject to no changes of principles; and population increased as the course of nature rendered indispensable; liberty was untouched; the public morals were kept within due bounds; and order generally prevailed. Foreigners attribute all this to the English Constitution, which in fact was owing to the single circumstance of a Pretender, who kept the reigning family in perpetual awe, supported as they were by an immense body of property among the Tories, a considerable party among the Lords and Commons, Scotland almost entirely devoted to him, and a great chance of Ireland by means of the Catholics. This obliged the Hanover family not only to be upon their guard, but to court the people incessantly and to support Revolution doctrines and principles, upon which ground they stood.
"I have heard old people of good authority say that Lord Sunderland, who was the most intriguing man that ever existed after his father—whether he was as corrupt or quite so bad a man as his father, I cannot tell—first got the Court after the accession and formed the leading party, consisting of the Craggs, Lord Carteret, the Stanhopes, Lord Macclesfield, and others.[1] Lord Sunderland was not only the most intriguing but the most passionate man of his time. In making up one of his Administrations, it was recommended to him to nominate Sir James Lowther one of his Treasury, on account of his great property. He appointed him one morning to come to Marlborough House; the morning was bad; nobody came in to Lord Sunderland, who at last rung his bell to know whether Sir James Lowther had been there. The servants answered that nobody had called; upon his repeating the inquiry the servants said that there was an old man, somewhat wet, sitting by the fireside in the hall, who they supposed had some petition to deliver to his Lordship. When he went out, it proved to be Sir James Lowther. Lord Sunderland desired him to be sent about his business, saying that no such mean fellow should sit
- ↑ 1714-1721.
