arguments that we have not heard." He bade an
adieu to Parliament. "Perhaps," he said, "when another Parliament
shall succeed, I may again be at liberty to serve my country in the
same capacity." In other words, if the next Parliament should declare
war on Spain after having got rid of Walpole, then Wyndham and his
friends might be prevailed on to return. "I therefore appeal to a
future, free, uninfluenced Parliament. Let it be the judge of my
conduct and that of my friends on this occasion. Meantime I shall
conclude with doing that duty to my country which I am still at liberty
to perform--which is to pray for its preservation. May, therefore,
that Power which has so often and so visibly before interposed on
behalf of the rights and liberties of this nation continue its care
over us at this worst and most dangerous juncture; while the insolence
of enemies without, and the influence of corruption within, threaten
the ruin of her Constitution."

This speech created, as will readily be imagined, an immense sensation
in the House. A member of the Administration, one of the Pelhams, lost
his head so completely that he sprang up with the intention of moving
that Wyndham be committed to the Tower. Walpole, who was not in the
habit of losing his head, prevented the ardent Pelham from carrying out
his purpose. Walpole knew quite well that something better could be
done than to evoke for any of the Patriots the antiquated terrors of
the Tower. Walpole delivered a speech which, for its suppressed
passion and its stern severity, was well equal to the occasion. The
threat of Wyndham and his friends gave him, he said, no uneasiness.
The friends of the Parliament and the nation were obliged to them for
pulling off the mask--"We can be upon our guard {174} against open
rebellion; it is hard to guard against secret treason." "The faction I
speak of never sat in this House, they never joined in any public
measure of the Government but with a view to distress it and to serve a
Popish interest." Walpole was delighted to have an opportunity of
paying off the Opposition for their constant denunciations of his
alleged subservience to the throne of France, by flinging in Wyndham's
teeth his old devotion to the cause of the Stuarts. "The gentleman,"
he said, "who is now the mouth of this faction was looked upon as the
head of those traitors who, twenty-five years ago, conspired the
destruction of their country and of the royal f