ABSTRACT
The accession of the House of Hanover to the throne of Britain marks the commencement of a visibly modern England. The long Whig reign is dominated by one figure—Robert Walpole. When, following the excitement of Jenkins's Ear, the country so clamoured for war with Spain that Walpole had either to sacrifice his opinions or resign, he chose to remain. With such corruption Walpole's name has long been associated. Most of Walpole's peccadilloes can be excused as based on sound political expediency. Where he must be gravely and lastingly charged is for leaving political morality where he found it, and political malpractice worse than he found it. If Walpole preserved the House of Hanover, it is equally true that the House of Hanover preserved Walpole. Each rendered the other an indispensable service, and each recognized —though Walpole cynically—the other's usefulness. Moreover, in early Hanoverian England the political interests that the great Whigs represented were those of the prospering commercial classes.
