being bound to pay a certain sum "by way of levy-money"
for each soldier. This was not really an English measure at all. It
had nothing to do with the interests of England, or of George as
Sovereign of England. It was merely an arrangement between the King of
Denmark and the Elector of Hanover, and was the settlement or
composition of a miserable quarrel about a castle and a scrap of ground
which George had bought from the Duchy of Holstein, and which Denmark
claimed as her own. The dispute led to a military scuffle, in which
the Danes got the worst of it, and it might have led to a war but that
the timely treaty and the promised annual {177} payment brought the
King of Denmark round to George's views. The treaty met with some
opposition, or at all events some remonstrance, in the House of Lords.
Carteret, however, gave it his support, and declared that he thought
the treaty a wise and a just measure. Carteret was always in favor of
the Hanoverian policy of King George.

[Sidenote: 1739--Walpole has it his own way]

So far, therefore, Walpole had things his own way. He was very glad to
be rid of the Opposition for the time. He might well have addressed
them in words like those which a modern American humorist says were
called out with enthusiasm to him when he was taking leave of his
friends and about to sail for Europe: "Don't hurry back--stay away
forever if you like."

But war was to come all the same. Walpole was not strong enough to
prevent that. The incessant attacks made in both Houses of Parliament
had inflamed the people of Spain into a passion as great as that which
in England was driving Walpole before it. The Spanish Government would
not pay the amount arranged for in the convention. They put forward as
their justification the fact, or alleged fact, that the South Sea
Company had failed to discharge its obligations to Spain. The British
squadron had been sent to the Mediterranean, and the Spaniards declared
that this was a threat and an insult to the King of Spain. The claim
to the right of search was asserted more loudly and vehemently than
ever. Near to the close of the session there was a passionate debate
in the House of Lords on the whole subject. The Opposition insisted
that the honor of England would not admit of further delay, and that
the sword must be unsheathed at once. The Duke of Newcastle could only
appeal to the House on the part of the Government not to pass a
resolution