Robert Walpole, but agreed to deliver up Maestricht for the glory of the French arms, though it was to be redelivered to the Dutch; that Great Britain was to deliver up Cape Breton and all conquests made in the East and West Indies, and that two noblemen were to be sent as hostages until the restitution was completed; but the right of English subjects to navigate the American seas without being subject to search was left to commissaries, nor were the limits of Acadia ascertained. All the nation gained by Mr. Pulteney's long opposition was a Place Bill, and all they gained by the war was expense and incessant disgrace. Except Dettingen in 1743 there were as many defeats as battles on the continent.[1] The war appears to have been much better carried on for England during the first years by Sir Robert Walpole. What is remarkable is, that Admiral Vernon in opposition declared he could take Portobello. The Ministry employed him and he took it.[2]
"Sir Robert Walpole having been everything for so many years, Mr. Pulteney being nothing and Lord Granville being got rid of, a gap was left which Mr. Pelham, the most inoffensive and patient of men, very naturally filled for some years, long enough to tempt such talents and ambition as existed among the younger part of both Houses, to look forward. He lived just long enough for the purpose, and died just in time to save himself the misery of fighting battles to which he was unequal, and the disgrace of retiring wounded and marked. When he died, his poor brother, the Duke of Newcastle, offered a most inviting object; 'hubble-bubble,' busy and unsteady. He attracted all manner of attack. Mr. Fox and Mr. Pitt, the most prominent men of the time, alternately and separately courted, bullied, and frightened him; each offering to act under him, in hopes of governing him and through him the country. They had seen the Spanish war turn out Sir Robert Walpole, and reasoned naturally enough that the Duke of New-
- ↑ Fontenoy, Rocoux and Laffeld, in 1745, 1746 and 1747 respectively.
- ↑ In 1742. The offer of Admiral Vernon, and his unexpected success, recalls the offer of Cleon, related by Thucydides, to take Sphacteria and his equally unexpected victory. Thucydides, iv. 28.
