| Copyright | ||
|
Home Domestic Politics and the First Two Georges, 1714-1760 The Two Kings; Part 7 |
The Two Kings; Part 7On Pelham's death, in 1754, the Duke of Newcastle succeeded as prime minister. He was a man of vast incompetence, always in a hurry and bustle and never doing anything. He has been described as a "hubble-bubble" man, his manner and speech resembling the bubbling of a Turkish pipe (Newcastle was for a long time responsible for the administration of the American colonies, and two stories are told of his ignorance in that capacity. After being minister for many years someone told him that Cape Breton was an island and was not on the mainland, and he exclaimed delightedly: "Cape Breton an island! Wonderful!-show it me in the map. So it is, sure enough. My dear sir, you always bring us good news. I must go and tell the king that Cape Breton is an island." On another occasion a general suggested that some defence was necessary for Annapolis; on which Newcastle, with his "evasive lisping hurry", replied^11 Annapolis, Annapolis! Oh! yes, Annapolis must be defended; to be sure, Annapolis should be defended-dray. where is Annapolis?"). But his personal influence over various " pocket" boroughs returning members to the House of Commons, and his vast fortune spent in securing others, gave him a position which enabled him to be in high office almost continuously for over forty years. He and his ministry were so incapable that they could not survive the beginning of the Seven Years War (1756).The ministry which succeeded, however, found itself powerless without Newcastle's influence. Fortunately Pitt and Newcastle then combined in the summer of 1757 to form a ministry, Newcastle managing the patronage and business details whilst Pitt was left to conduct the great war with which his name will be for ever connected. But before Pitt and Newcastle could bring the Seven Years War to a conclusion, the death of George II, in 1760, changed the aspect of domestic politics, and the Whig ascendancy was, for the first time since 1714, seriously threatened. |
Chronology |
| copyright by uuo-ununoctium.info |