he hereditary Chamber
might perhaps be relied upon to stand firmly against a popular clamor,
but it would be impossible to expect such firmness at such a time from
an elective assembly of almost any sort. In this instance, however,
Walpole found himself worse off in the House of Lords than even in the
House of Commons. The House of Lords was stimulated by the really
powerful eloquence of Carteret and of Chesterfield, and there was no
man on the ministerial side of the House who could stand up with any
effect against such accomplished and unscrupulous political gladiators.

Walpole appealed to the Parliament not to take any step which would
render a peaceful settlement impossible, and he promised to make the
most strenuous efforts to obtain a prompt consideration of England's
claims. He set to work energetically for this purpose. His
difficulties were greatly increased by the unfriendly conduct of the
Spanish envoy, who was on terms of confidence with the Patriots, and
went about everywhere declaring {160} that Walpole was trying to
deceive the English people as well as the Spanish Government. It must
have needed all Walpole's strength of will to sustain him against so
many difficulties and so many enemies at such a crisis. It had not
been his way to train up statesmen to help him in his work, and now he
stood almost alone.

The negotiations were further complicated by the disputes between
England and Spain as to the right of English traders to cut logwood in
Campeachy Bay, and as to the settlement of the boundaries of the new
English colonies of Florida and Carolina in North America, and the
rival claims of England and Spain to this or that strip of border
territory. Sometimes, however, when an international dispute has to be
glossed over, rather than settled, to the full satisfaction of either
party, it is found a convenient thing for diplomatists to have a great
many subjects of disputation wrapped up in one arrangement. Walpole
was sincerely anxious to give Spain a last chance; but the Spanish
people, on their side, were stirred to bitterness and to passion by the
vehement denunciations of the English Opposition. Even then, when
daily papers were little known to the population of either London or
Madrid, people in London and in Madrid did somehow get to know that
there had been fierce exchange of international dislike and defiance.
Walpole, however, still clung to his policy of peace, and his influence
in