登陆注册
4705400000175

第175章

"You may rely on it, then," said the Chief Justice, "that people who want places and benefices will go to those who have more leisure." The prediction was accomplished. It would have been a busy time indeed in which the Pelhams had wanted leisure for jobbing; and to the Pelhams the whole cry of place-hunters and pension-hunters resorted. The parliamentary influence of the two brothers became stronger every day, till at length they were at the head of a decided majority in the House of Commons. Their rival, meanwhile, conscious of his powers, sanguine in his hopes, and proud of the storm which he had conjured up on the Continent, would brook neither superior nor equal. "His rants," says Horace Walpole, "are amazing; so are his parts and his spirits." He encountered the opposition of his colleagues, not with the fierce haughtiness of the first Pitt, or the cold unbending arrogance of the second, but with a gay vehemence, a good-humoured imperiousness, that bore everything down before it. The period of his ascendency was known by the name of the "Drunken Administration"; and the expression was not altogether figurative. His habits were extremely convivial; and champagne probably lent its aid to keep him in that state of joyous excitement in which his life was passed.

That a rash and impetuous man of genius like Carteret should not have been able to maintain his ground in Parliament against the crafty and selfish Pelhams is not strange. But it is less easy to understand why he should have been generally unpopular throughout the country. His brilliant talents, his bold and open temper, ought, it should seem, to have made him a favourite with the public. But the people had been bitterly disappointed; and he had to face the first burst of their rage. His close connection with Pulteney, now the most detested man in the nation, was an unfortunate circumstance. He had, indeed, only three partisans, Pulteney, the King, and the Prince of Wales, a most singular assemblage.

He was driven from his office. He shortly after made a bold, indeed a desperate, attempt to recover power. The attempt failed.

From that time he relinquished all ambitious hopes, and retired laughing to his books and his bottle. No statesman ever enjoyed success with so exquisite a relish, or submitted to defeat with so genuine and unforced a cheerfulness. Ill as he had been used, he did not seem, says Horace Walpole, to have any resentment, or indeed any feeling except thirst.

These letters contain many good stories, some of them no doubt grossly exaggerated, about Lord Carteret; how, in the height of his greatness, he fell in love at first sight on a birthday with Lady Sophia Fermor, the handsome daughter of Lord Pomfret; how he plagued the Cabinet every day with reading to them her ladyship's letters; how strangely he brought home his bride; what fine jewels he gave her; how he fondled her at Ranelagh; and what queen-like state she kept in Arlington Street. Horace Walpole has spoken less bitterly of Carteret than of any public man of that time, Fox, perhaps, excepted; and this is the more remarkable, because Carteret was one of the most inveterate enemies of Sir Robert. In the Memoirs, Horace Walpole, after passing in review all the great men whom England had produced within his memory, concludes by saying, that in genius none of them equalled Lord Granville. Smollett, in Humphrey Clinker, pronounces a similar judgment in coarser language. "Since Granville was turned out, there has been no minister in this nation worth the meal that whitened his periwig."

Carteret fell; and the reign of the Pelhams commenced. It was Carteret's misfortune to be raised to power when the public mind was still smarting from recent disappointment. The nation had been duped, and was eager for revenge. A victim was necessary, and on such occasions the victims of popular rage are selected like the victim of Jephthah. The first person who comes in the way is made the sacrifice. The wrath of the people had now spent itself; and the unnatural excitement was succeeded by an unnatural calm. To an irrational eagerness for something new, succeeded an equally irrational disposition to acquiesce in everything established. A few months back the people had been disposed to impute every crime to men in power, and to lend a ready ear to the high professions of men in opposition. They were now disposed to surrender themselves implicitly to the management of Ministers, and to look with suspicion and contempt on all who pretended to public spirit. The name of patriot had become a by-word of derision. Horace Walpole scarcely exaggerated when he said that, in those times, the most popular declaration which a candidate could make on the hustings was that he had never been and never would be a patriot. At this conjecture took place the rebellion of the Highland clans. The alarm produced by that event quieted the strife of internal factions. The suppression of the insurrection crushed for ever the spirit of the Jacobite party.

Room was made in the Government for a few Tories. Peace was patched up with France and Spain. Death removed the Prince of Wales, who had contrived to keep together a small portion of that formidable opposition of which he had been the leader in the time of Sir Robert Walpole. Almost every man of weight in the House of Commons was officially connected with the Government The even tenor of the session of Parliament was ruffled only by an occasional harangue from Lord Egmont on the army estimates. For the first time since the accession of the Stuarts there was no opposition. This singular good fortune, denied to the ablest statesmen, to Salisbury, to Strafford, to Clarendon, to Somers, to Walpole, had been reserved for the Pelhams.

Henry Pelham, it is true, was by no means a contemptible person.

同类推荐
  • 刘生觅莲记

    刘生觅莲记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 佛说首楞严三昧经

    佛说首楞严三昧经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 送徐使君赴岳州

    送徐使君赴岳州

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Little Dream

    The Little Dream

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 老子解略

    老子解略

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 豪门恋爱日常

    豪门恋爱日常

    夜色撩人,夜店深处一片灯红酒绿。叶蔷薇微微勾唇,看着镜子里的自己,妖艳而浓烈的烟熏妆,……
  • THE HOLY WAR

    THE HOLY WAR

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 心生愉悦

    心生愉悦

    本书是一本行吟散文集。这些年来,作者走过很多地方。作者一路走一路看,活泼泼地借景抒情,表达着自己即时的感受,然而文字时常浸着诗意。
  • 网游之终极盾皇

    网游之终极盾皇

    穷小子兼倒霉蛋进入游戏,竟然幸运的被神秘智能模块附身,从此拥有了神奇的各种能力。依靠超高的亲和力,他在游戏中能和美女NPC随意搭讪。能与BOSS谈理想,能和小怪聊未来,在这魔幻般的乱世里,李旭上演了一场激情四射的彪悍人生。手持巨盾,不动如山,扫平全球各战场。君临天下,乱世盾皇,开创网游新世纪。
  • 妙法莲华经忧波提舍

    妙法莲华经忧波提舍

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 深闺记事

    深闺记事

    四岁,她与母亲被关在尼姑庵,造就她豁达阔朗的心性。九岁,母逝,她重回宅门里。上有绵里藏针的婶娘,下有张扬跋扈的堂妹。她练就遇鬼杀鬼魔性。十二岁议亲,一边是被称为温如玉公子的竹马,名门贵戚,一朝若嫁入,风光无限。只是堂妹虎视眈眈,温家不温不火。另一边亦是高门大家的承嗣,端正君子,若为他家妇,荣华一生。只是她听说了姜家大妇的传闻。历来姜家大妇都郁郁而终,助夫君理后院,但不得夫君喜爱,子女不亲近……不论是风光还是荣华,都是险中求。行走宅门中,便摆脱不了这恩怨痴缠,罢了,且与他走一朝便是……此生如瓷,炼不出洁白莹润的品性,便出不得这焚骨销金的窑炉!
  • 甜蜜婚令:墨少,宠妻入骨

    甜蜜婚令:墨少,宠妻入骨

    《容少,你老婆又穿越了》,作者新开的,现正在免费哦!被渣母逼婚给妹妹当垫脚石,林冉不服,处心机虑本以为只是睡了个英俊入骨的‘退伍军人’,却没想到这个男人是个权倾帝国的狠角色,对她一睡成瘾。他救她于虎口,他把她再次床咚扑倒,“嫁给我,我宠你,以后我给你撑腰。”“……”“跟我扯证,我必须要名正言顺的只跟你睡。”“……”“只此以上两种,你没有别的选择。”林冉笑着拉着男人的领结扯下,“睡就睡,但是墨大人要做好心理准备,我要的可不止以上两种。”其实墨大人在林小姐身上只有一种纵,宠!宠!宠!男女主身心干净,欢迎跳坑,求票!求收藏!
  • 快穿反派boss来袭

    快穿反派boss来袭

    【超甜1V1,双洁,忠犬男主】姜砚快穿一小心绑定了个智障系统。系统【美名其曰】:复活。其实就是让她攻略小哥哥,谈甜甜的恋爱。然而,当屌炸天的姜砚大佬遇到智商低的白莲花女主,特殊癖好的病态男主,婊出天际的女配…………她忽然觉得:虐渣什么的简直不要太好,不要急,一个一个的来,咱们慢慢虐!邢弛【可怜兮兮】:今天反派大佬爱我了吗?姜砚【冷漠脸】:没有,别爱我,没结果。不过……别想跑,你是我的!
  • Resurrection

    Resurrection

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 阳光充足(中国好小说)

    阳光充足(中国好小说)

    本书主要讲述的主人公陈二毛由于要遵从父母的意见去娶有病的殷菊花,但是他却深深爱着殷菊花的妹妹殷雪花。小说大量描写男女双方人物的心理活动,情深意切。最后,终于在大婚的前一天晚上,两人走到了一起。