aracter. When the
election storm was over, it was found that the Ministry had distinctly
lost ground. In Scotland and in parts of the west of England the loss
was most manifest. Walpole now was as well convinced as any of his
enemies could be that the fall was near. He must have felt like some
desperate duellist, who, having fought his fiercest and his best, is
conscious at last that his strength is gone; that he is growing fainter
and fainter from loss of blood; and conscious, too, that his antagonist
already perceives this and exults in the knowledge, and is already
seeking out with greedy eye for the best place in which to give the
final touch of the rapier's point.

The new Parliament met on December 1, 1741, and re-elected Mr. Onslow
as Speaker. The speech from the throne was almost entirely taken up
with somewhat cheerless references to the war with Spain, and the
debate on {187} the address was naturally made the occasion for new
attacks on the policy of the Government. "Certainly, my Lords," said
Chesterfield, "it is not to be hoped that we should regain what we have
lost but by measures different from those which have reduced us to our
present state, and by the assistance of other counsellors than those
who have sunk us into the contempt and exposed us to the ravages of
every nation throughout the world." This was the string that had been
harped upon in all the pamphlets and letters of the Patriots during the
progress of the war. Walpole had done it all; Walpole had delayed the
war to gratify France; he had prevented the war from being carried on
vigorously in order to assist France; he had obtained a majority in
Parliament by the most outrageous and systematic corruption; he was an
enemy of his country, and so forth. All these charges and allegations
were merely founded on Walpole's public policy. They simply came to
this, that a certain course of action taken by Walpole, with the
approval of Parliament, was declared by Walpole to have been taken from
patriotic motives and for the good of England, and was declared by his
enemies to have been taken from unpatriotic motives and in the interest
of France. It was of no avail for Walpole to point out that everything
he had done thus far had been done with the approval of the House of
Commons. The answer was ready: "Exactly; and there is another of your
crimes: you bribed and corrupted every former House of Commons."

[Sidenote: 1742--Pulteney's attempt