The Disintegration of the European System (1731–1740)

chapter 4 Jealousy and Misunderstandings? The Disintegration of the European System (1731–1740)

1 Who Gives the Law to Europe? The Repercussions of Britain’s Cavalier Seul

All the different engagements entered into, on this head, for 13 years past, are combined in one sheet of paper in such manner as to settle the establishment of don Carlos, upon one and ye same certain and inviolable footing in Italy […] all that affair will be finished, which for so many years had been ye occasion of so much troubles, confusion & anxiety and has kept all Europe in suspense. thomas robinson on the Treaty of Vienna1

Who would have thought twelve Months ago that the Year 1731 would serve for an Epocha from which to date the Establishment of the Publick Tranquility, and of the Balance of Power in Europe? The Gentleman’s Magazine2

Britain’s position in the 1730s has been subject to debate among historians. Aloof from the continent during the War of the Polish Succession (1733–1738), it is said to have been drifting away from France from 1727 on, and to steer on an incipient confrontational course. From relations of sympathy and esteem, going far beyond the merely political field,3 the couple seemed to revert to the cliché of the “Second Hundred Years War.” The resignation of the staunchly anti-Imperial Charles Townshend in May 1730,4 or the second Treaty of Vienna in 1731,5 where

1 In Newcastle to Waldegrave, Hampton Court, 30 September 1731 os, na, sp, 78, 202, f. 159r° and 160r°. 2 Quoted in Jones, Britain and the Tuscan Succession, 67. 3 Bonno, “La culture et la civilisation britanniques.” 4 J. Black, “Fresh Light on the Fall of Townshend,” hj XXIX (1986), No. 1 (March), 41–64 nuances the anti-Imperial stance of Townshend, and sees political games against Robert Walpole, or “a struggle for power rather than a dispute over policy” (59) as the reason for his departure. 5 Treaty of Alliance between Charles VI and George II, Vienna, 19 [16] March 1731, Rousset, Supplément, II, nr. CXLII, 288–291. Act of accession of the States-General, The Hague,

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Britain concluded without France and recognised the Pragmatic Sanction “pro conservando duratoro in Europa aequilibrio,”6 can be seen as indications for a more German-oriented policy, dictated by George II, who had spent a substan- tial part of his life in Hanover.7 The monarch had little enthusiasm for Anglo- Spanish relations, which were however vital for the prosperity of British merchants.8 George had steered on confrontation with Charles VI over the question of the Duchy of Mecklenburg during the Soissons Conference, up until 1730.9 In February of that year, a crisis in the House of Commons over Dunkirk was averted thanks to the bond between Horatio Walpole and Cardinal Fleury.10 Yet, George abandoned the French the next year when the perspective of secur- ing Hanover against Prussia appeared at the horizon. Recognising the Pragmatic Sanction would confront Frederick William I with the combined force of Austria and Britain.11 George had a “martial temperament.” The monarch, who had displayed his personal military virtus at the Battle of Oudenaarde (1708) during the War of the Spanish Succession, “associated the army with his ‘gloire’” and saw his military adventures as a young prince-elector as “a time of youthful freedom and excitement,” to be rediscovered in power.12 George II could achieve the physi- cal security of Hanover by concluding the Treaty of Vienna in March 1731. In his own eyes, this was “a triumph.”13 The King appointed William Stanhope, Earl Harrington, as Townshend’s “pliant successor.”14 Hanoverian15 and Spanish matters were the crux of all

20 February 1732, ibid., 291–294; Treaty between Charles VI and George II, Vienna, 22 July 1731, ibid., nr. CXLVI, 307–311. 6 Art. II, Treaty of Alliance between Charles VI and George II. 7 Simms, Three Victories and a Defeat, 206. 8 Black, The Collapse of the Anglo-French Alliance, 36, 149 and correspondence (Jan-Feb 1730) cited on page 159. 9 Ibid., 87. 10 Dhondt, “The cursed sluices of Dunkirk”; Black, The Collapse of the Anglo-French Alliance, 168. 11 Black, The Collapse of the Anglo-French Alliance, 187. 12 Ibid., 25. Williams, Carteret and Newcastle, 94: “George II […] anxious for military glory, was all for fighting.” 13 Black, Collapse, 150. 14 Black, “Fresh Light,” 64. 15 A. Thompson, Britain, Hanover and the Protestant interest, 1688–1756, Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2006, 267 p.; G. Brauer, Die hannoversch-englischen Subsidienverträge 1702–1748 [Untersuchungen zur deutschen Staats- und Rechtsgeschichte; Neue Folge; 1], Aalen: Scientia Verlag, 1962, 198 p.