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  The Two Kings; Part 5

The Two Kings; Part 5

Walpole was careful, moreover, to avoid raising great antagonisms. Whilst allowing the Dissenters in practice to hold office in towns and elsewhere, he would not, for fear of angering the Church, formally repeal the laws which forbade them to do so. In another matter he gave way to popular feeling. In 1733 he introduced an Excise Bill. Under this Bill duties on wine and tobacco were to be paid, not on their arrival in port, but only if and when they were taken for internal consumption in Great Britain out of the warehouses where they were to be placed on arrival. The object of the Bill was to check smuggling, and to make London and other places free ports by allowing goods to be re-exported without paying any duty. The Bill, however, met with tremendous opposition. An army of excisemen, it was alleged, would be created, who would swamp the elections with their votes, and who would invade Englishmen's homes to see that the duty had been paid, reducing British subjects to a condition of slavery. The citizens of London prayed to be heard against the Bill, and sent a petition escorted by coaches that stretched from Westminster to Temple Bar. The soldiers were on the point of mutiny because they thought that the price of their tobacco would be raised. The whole country took up the cry of "No slavery, no excise", and numbers of people marched about with badges on their hats bearing this and similar inscriptions. In the House of Commons the Opposition attacked the Bill with great fury, and Walpole's majority sank to seventeen. When this occurred, Walpole felt he must yield. "This dance", he said, "will no further go"; and, to the great popular delight, the Bill was abandoned (Even Samuel Johnson, some twenty years after, so far forgot the impartiality of a lexicographer as thus to define the word "excise" in his Dictionary: "a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged not by common judges of property, but by wretches hired by those to whom excise is paid").

Three years after the withdrawal of the Excise Bill, Walpole's Government became very unpopular in Scotland. As a result of the hated Union of 1707, the customs duties in that country had been increased so as to tally with those in England, and consequently every good Scot thought himself justified in eluding them. Smuggling was therefore regarded with an indulgent eye in Scotland, and was so general as to be almost one of its minor industries. In 1736 two notorious smugglers, who had robbed a custom-house officer, were convicted and ordered to be executed in Edinburgh. One of them made himself a popular hero by chivalrously aiding the escape of the other (The two prisoners had planned to escape from prison by enlarging the window in their cell. One of them, however, being a person of considerable bulk, stuck in the aperture, and not only was unable to get out himself but prevented the egress of the other. But, on the following Sunday, he attacked the guard at the close of divine service, and enabled his fellow-prisoner to get away), and there was consequently a huge and sympathetic crowd at his execution. The execution over, there was some disorder, and stones were thrown at the town guard. Its commander, Captain Porteous, gave orders for the guard to fire, and some people were killed. Popular fury was aroused. Captain Porteous was tried and condemned to death. But he was reprieved by the Government, and the mob then took matters into its own hands and hanged him on a dyer's pole (See Scott's Heart of Midlothian for full account of the Porteous Riots). Walpole's Government accordingly tried to pass a Bill punishing the city of Edinburgh, but its terms were so stringent that they were opposed by all the Scottish members and had to be considerably modified. Walpole's position in Scotland was further weakened by the defection of the Duke of Argyll, who had enormous influence; consequently in the new Parliament of 1741 only six Scottish members supported Walpole.

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