ABSTRACT
G e o r g e I F s much-quoted remark on Pelham’s death, ‘Now I shall have no more peace’, provides the keynote for the next three years of his reign. Neither at home, where Pelham’s death ushered in a period of political instability, nor abroad, where the impossi bility of avoiding a new war with France was becoming increasingly apparent, was the old King to know peace. The two problems were closely linked together, for only an efficient ministry enjoying the confidence of both King and Parliament could hope to wage a successful war. Of the two the more immediate problem was the reconstruction of the ministry. Here the major difficulty was to provide for the management of the House of Commons without arousing the fears and jealousies of Newcastle. Though under the first shock of his brother’s death the Duke declared that he had no more heart for business, he had been at the centre of the political game for too long to abandon it lightly, and it was taken for granted that he would continue to play a major part. Certainly this was the assumption on which his friend the Chancellor Hardwicke acted when negotiations for filling Pelham’s two offices were begun. Newcastle had acknowledged his brother’s role as leading minister, but he was not likely to allow anyone else the same pre-eminence if he could avoid it. He therefore went to the Treasury as First Lord. This freed the Secretaryship of State, and also the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, an office by now traditionally belonging to the House of Commons. It also made it imperative to decide how the business of that House was to be managed. As First Lords of the Treasury, Walpole and Henry Pelham had been able to speak
with authority. They were able both to explain, and argue in favour of, a policy which in the Cabinet and the Closet they had helped to formulate, and also to distribute that patronage which would give it additional attractiveness to wavering members.