untry
was in its favour. But the opinion of parliament was against it, and
he preferred to fall, together with the monarchy, in obedience to
parliament, rather than to triumph by public opinion.

Walpole gave way in the affair of the Halfpence, that he might not
alienate those through whom he governed Ireland. The coins were good.
They were to contain twice the value of metal with which we are
satisfied, and it was never shown that they did not. The gains of the
contractor were exhorbitant. He was able to pay a heavy fee to the
Duchess of Kendal; and when the contract was revoked, he obtained an
excessive compensation. His Halfpence are historic because Swift, in
raising a tempest over the Irish grievance, employed the language of
revolution and national patriotism, as it had never been heard.
Again, the Excise Bill would have saved many hundreds of thousands of
pounds to the State, when a hundred thousand was more than a million
is now; but Walpole, in spite of his majority, yielded to the clamour
outside. And he did the same thing in regard to the Spanish war, the
last great crisis he encountered.

Walpole's main idea on taking the highest office, that which he
proclaimed in his first king's speech, was to divert the country from
frantic speculation to the legitimate profits of industry and trade.
The two great openings for trade were with the Mediterranean and with
Spanish America. That with the Mediterranean was somewhat neglected,
as the government relied more on the friendship of the piratical
Algerines than on the solid possession of Gibraltar and Minorca.
George I had written a letter to Philip V, dated 1st June, 1721, in
which he distinctly assured him of his "readiness to satisfy with
regard to your demand relating to the restitution of Gibraltar,
promising you to make use of the first favourable opportunity to
regulate this article with consent of my parliament." The English
ministry were not convinced of the importance of retaining Gibraltar,
and fully expected to be in a position to give it up to Spain for an
equivalent. Indeed, in January 1721, Stanhope had said to the French
envoy that in a year, when the financial position of England was
better and the temper of parliament improved, they would certainly
give up Gibraltar, for the merest shadow of an equivalent, as the
place was only a burden to them. But they had not counted on the
determination of the English people to hold it at all costs.