4 - The War of Austrian Succession

Summary

The 1740s, during which Britain's assistance to Maria Theresia displaced its naval war against Spain, might seem to exemplify the distinction between overseas empire and continental diplomacy. But while few historians have questioned the distinction between continental and maritime policy, contemporaries perceived no such difference. Many British contemporaries would have preferred an empire free of European commitments. But the continental reality remained imperial, whether Hanover sought empire over Britain or vice versa. Further, the latter scenario of British empire over the electorate made great advances in government circles. Hanoverians also began to see advantages in British empire, which had once occasioned only apprehension. Few voices in either country argued for the existence of personal union, which had been discredited by Hanover's neutrality of 1741. Yet for all that most Britons and Hanoverians could agree that their countries’ relationship was imperial, they differed over its desirability. This was particularly true of Britain, which staged its greatest debate over Hanover during the early 1740s.

The revival of British imperialism towards Hanover was exemplified by the new government's dominant personality, Lord Carteret. The new secretary of state for the northern department had been a protégé of Stanhope, the last minister to represent such a view. Carteret had negotiated the Treaty of Stockholm for Stanhope, securing Sweden's official cession of Bremen and Verden to Hanover. The expansionist perspective had further informed his opposition to the Walpole's policy of personal union, especially after the 1741 neutrality. Carteret entered office in 1742 determined to undo it, and to impose British influence over the electorate. He told the Hanoverian minister in London, Ernst von Steinberg, that ‘the distinction between His Majesty as king and as elector must cease’. Although this comment was clearly incompatible with personal union, it did not specify the seat of empire. This Carteret confided to his secretary, who informed the British ambassador at The Hague ‘that he stakes his whole on keeping the elector an Englishman’. To sweeten the deal for Hanoverians, Carteret hinted at a British military subsidy. War had strained Hanoverian finances, and the neutrality had foreclosed the possibility of British subventions.