HORATIO, LORD WALPOLE, WROTE many political pieces, among which were the following: "The Case of the Hessian Troops in the Pay of Great Britain." Lond. 1730. "The Interest of Great Britain steadily pursued, in answer to a pamphlet entitled, The Case of the Hanover Forces, impartially and freely examined, Part I.” 1743. "A Letter to a certain distinguished Patriot and applauded Orator, on the publication of his celebrated Speech on the Seaford Petition, in the Magazines, &c." 1748. "Complaints of the Manufacturers, relating to the Abuses in marking the Sheep and winding the Wool, stated and impartially considered, in a Letter to the Marquis of Rockingham 2 1752. 99 "Answer to the latter Part of Lord Bolingbroke's Letters on the Study of History: in a Series of Letters to a noble Lord." Manuscript3. ⚫ [Printed in the Gent. Mag. Coxe's Mem. p. 466.] VOL. IV. [His lordship was second brother to sir Robert Walpole, and born in 1678. At an early period of his life he engaged in a public capacity. In 1706 he accompanied general Stanhope to Barcelona, as private secretary, and was employed in various missions of consequence 4. In 1707 he was appointed secretary to Henry Boyle, esq. then chancellor of the exchequer. In 1708 he went as secretary of an embassy to the emperor of Germany, and in 1709 acted in the same capacity, when plenipotentiaries assembled to treat at the congress of Gertruydenberg. On his elder brother, sir Robert, being nominated first lord of the treasury in 1715, he was invested with the office of secretary to that board. In 1716 he was sent as envoy to the Hague; and in 1717 succeeded to the office of surveyor and auditor-general of all his majesty's revenues in America, in consequence of a reversionary grant obtained some time before 5. In 1720 he was constituted secretary to the duke of Grafton, when lord lieutenant of Ireland. In 1723 he commenced his embassy to Paris, where he resided till 1727 as ambassador. In 1730 he was made cofferer of his majesty's household. In 1733 he was sent plenipotentiary to the States General; in 1741 was appointed a teller of the exchequer, and in 1756 was created a peer of England by the title of lord • Preface to Coxe's Mem. of Lord Walpole. Walpole, of Wolterton. His lordship died Feb. 5, 1757°. Much of his official correspondence is intermingled with the letters of sir Robert Walpole, published by Mr. Coxe, who has since assigned a quarto volume to the memoirs of lord Walpole, selected from his papers, and connected with the history of the times from 1678 to 1757. This selection was made from a mass of authentic documents which fill 160 large volumes, or port-folios, and forms a valuable condensation of political transactions and domestic incidents. Lord Walpole is placed in a far more important point of view than he had heretofore obtained, and it appears that no one could be more intrusted with the secret springs of ministerial action. "As he was the brother of a minister," says Mr. Coxe", "who so long directed the helm of government, and had so considerable a share in the conduct of foreign affairs, he partook of the obloquy heaped on sir Robert Walpole in the numerous party pamphlets which deluged the public during his administration." Smollett, blindly adopting the malevolence of his opponents, described him "as employed in despite of nature, in different negotiations; as blunt, awkward, and slovenly; an orator without eloquence, an ambassador without dignity, and a plenipotentiary without address." But the continuator of Tindal has done justice to his abilities, and the earl of Hardwicke has said, among other • Collins's Peerage, vol. vii. p. 420. commendations, that "he negotiated with firmness and address, and with the love of peace, which was the system of his brother, he never lost sight of that great object, keeping up the sources of national strength and wealth. He was a great master of the commercial and political interests of this country, and deservedly raised to the peerage." Mr. Coxe adds, that his moral conduct was irreproachable; that he was sincere in his belief of Christianity, and zealous and constant in performing the duties of religion; and that he maintained an unimpeached character for truth and integrity, as well in his public as in his private capacity. It is difficult, says the same intelligent writer, to give a complete list of lord Walpole's works, as all his pamphlets were published without his name. The following are added to lord Orford's notices, but rather on doubtful evidence. "The grand Question, whether War or No War with Spain, impartially considered, in defence of the present Measures, against those who delight in War." "The Convention vindicated from the Misrepresentations of the Enemies of our Peace.” 1738. 8 In the copious catalogue of Mr. West's library occurs, in a lot with other political tracts, "A Letter concerning the Excise Bill, by Horace Lord Walpole." 1733. His lordship's sensible and manly opinions, addressed to the mayor of Norwich, on the duty of representatives, seem entitled to national regard. * No. 1393. |