aged his three
brothers to oppose the bill in the House of Commons. He said witty and
sarcastic things about the measure, which of course were duly reported
to Walpole's ears. Perhaps Chesterfield thought he stood too high to
be in danger from Walpole's hand. If he did think so he soon found out
his mistake. Walpole's hand struck him down in the most unsparing and
humiliating way. Public affront was added to political deprivation.
Lord Chesterfield was actually going up the great stairs of St. James's
Palace, on the day but one after the Excise Bill had been withdrawn,
when he was stopped by an official and bidden to go home and bring back
the white staff which was the emblem of his office, of all the chief
offices of the Household, and surrender it. Chesterfield took the
demand thus ungraciously made with his usual composure and politeness.
He wrote a letter to the King, which the King showed to Walpole, but
did not think fit to answer. The letter, Walpole afterwards told Lord
Hervey, was "extremely labored but not well done." Chesterfield
immediately passed into opposition, and became one of the bitterest and
most formidable enemies Walpole had to encounter. Walpole's friends
always justified his treatment of Chesterfield by asserting that
Chesterfield was one of a party who were caballing against the minister
at the time of the excise scheme, and while Chesterfield was a member
of the Government. Chesterfield, it was declared, used actually to
attend certain private meetings and councils of Walpole's enemies to
concert measures against him. There is nothing incredible or even
unlikely in this; but even if it were utterly untrue, we may assume
that sooner or later Walpole would have got rid of Chesterfield. {9}
Walpole's besetting weakness was that he could not endure any really
capable colleague. The moment a man showed any capacity for governing,
Walpole would appear to have made up his mind that that man and he were
not to govern together.

[Sidenote: 1733--Walpole's animosity]

Walpole made a clean sweep of the men in office whom he believed to
have acted against him. He even went so far as to deprive of their
commissions in the army two peers holding no manner of office in the
Administration, but whom he believed to have acted against him. To
strengthen himself in the House of Lords he conferred a peerage on his
attorney-general and on his solicitor-general. Philip Yorke, the
Attorney-general, b