Horace Walpole spent a long life in luxurious ease
because of offices with high pay and few duties secured in the
distant days of his father's political power. Contracts to supply
the army and the navy went to friends of the government,
sometimes with disastrous results, since the contractor often
knew nothing of the business he undertook. When, in 1777, the
Admiralty boasted that thirty-five ships of war were ready to put
to sea it was found that there were in fact only six. The system
nearly ruined the navy. It actually happened that planks of a
man-of-war fell out through rot and that she sank. Often ropes
and spars could not be had when most needed. When a public loan
was floated the King's friends and they alone were given the
shares at a price which enabled them to make large profits on the
stock market.
The system could endure only as long as the King's friends had a
majority in the House of Commons. Elections must be looked after.
The King must have those on whom he could always depend. He
controlled offices and pensions. With these things he bought
members and he had to keep them bought by repeating the benefits.
If the holder of a public office was thought to be dying the King
was already naming to his Prime Minister the person to whom the
office must go when death should occur.
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