ABSTRACT
In analytical terms 1724 is an extremely important year because it demonstrates the complexities of the linkage between international relations, foreign policy and domestic politics. The unity of the ministry was presented to give vigour and consistency to its foreign policy, while the fall of Carteret was regarded both as a major blow to Austria and as a sign of royal weakness in the face of a powerful political grouping. Walpole's governmental focus on the national debt and his political concern with the tax rate made him sensitive not only to the risk of war but also to the costs of peacetime foreign policy, notably subsidy treaties and expenditure on winning over foreign ministers. Walpole's role in thwarting and exposing the Atterbury Plot, and managing Atterbury's trial, underlined his zeal for the Hanoverian Succession and commended him greatly to George. He drove home his significance for George with his role as master of government patronage in the 1722 general election.
