Note 520 — INTRODUCTORY NOTE TO CHAPTER X

Sunderland’s Ministry in 1718 introduced a measure to limit the creation of peers, the object being to prevent the Prince of Wales (when King) from swamping the Lords with his partisans. Walpole spoke and wrote vigorously against the Bill, and organised the opposition to it in anticipation of the time when it should reach the Commons. He succeeded in altering the public attitude to the Bill, and it was rejected by a large majority.