Note 408 — Chapter XVI · ON THE STATE OF THE CONSTITUTION IN THE REIGNS OF ANNE, GEORGE I., AND GEORGE II. (continued 2)

H. Walpole's Memoirs of the last Ten Years; Lord Waldegrave's Memoirs. In this well written little book, the character of George II. in reference to his constitutional position, is thus delicately drawn: "He has more knowledge of foreign affairs than most of his ministers, and has good general notions of the constitution, strength, and interest of this country; but, being past thirty when the Hanover succession took place, and having since experienced the violence of party, the injustice of popular clamour, the corruption of parliaments, and the selfish motives of pretended patriots, it is not surprising that he should have contracted some prejudices in favour of those governments where the royal authority is under less restraint. Yet prudence has so far prevailed over these prejudices, that they have never influenced his conduct. On the contrary, many laws have been enacted in favour of public liberty; and in the course of a long reign there has not been a single attempt to extend the prerogative of the Crown beyond its proper limits. He has as much personal bravery as any man, though his political courage seems somewhat problematical; however, it is a fault on the right side; for had he always been as firm and undaunted in the closet as he showed himself at Oudenarde and Dettingen, he might not have proved quite so good a king in this limited monarchy,"—P. 5. This was written in 1757.

The real tories, those I mean who adhered to the principles expressed by that name, thought the constitutional prerogative of the Crown impaired by a conspiracy of its servants. Their notions are expressed in some "Letters on the English Nation," published about 1756, under the name of Battista Angeloni, by Dr. Shebbeare, once a jacobite, and still so bitter an enemy of William III. and George I. that he stood in the pillory, not long afterwards, for a libel on those princes (among other things); on which Horace Walpole justly animadverts, as a stretch of the law by Lord Mansfield destructive of all historical truth. Memoirs of the last Ten Years, ii. 328. Shebbeare, however, was afterwards pensioned, along with Johnson, by Lord Bute, and at the time when these letters were written, may possibly have been in the Leicester House interest. Certain it is, that the self-interested cabal who belonged to that little court endeavoured too successfully to persuade its chief and her son that the Crown was reduced to a state of vassalage, from which it ought to be emancipated; and the government of the Duke of Newcastle, as strong in party connection as it was contemptible in ability and reputation, afforded them no bad argument. The consequences are well known, but do not enter into the plan of this work.