Editing Horace Walpole (section)

==Later life: 1768–1788==

Without a seat in Parliament, Walpole recognised his limitations as to political influence.

He wrote to Mann critical of the activities of the [[East India Company]] on 13 July 1773: {{blockquote|What is England now? – A sink of Indian wealth, filled by nabobs and emptied by Maccaronis! A senate sold and despised! A country overrun by horse-races! A gaming, robbing, wrangling, railing nation without principles, genius, character or allies.|source={{harvnb|Walpole|1844|p=339}}, {{harvnb|Carson|2012|pp=18–33}} }}

He opposed the recent [[Catholic Emancipation|Catholic accommodative measures]], writing to Mann in 1784: "You know I have ever been averse to toleration of an intolerant religion".{{sfn|Langford|2011}} He wrote to the same correspondent in 1785 that "as there are continually allusions to parliamentary speeches and events, they are often obscure to me till I get them explained; and besides, I do not know several of the satirized heroes even by sight".{{sfn|Langford|2011}} His political sympathies were with the [[Foxite]] Whigs, the successors of the [[Rockingham Whigs]], who were themselves the successors of the Whig Party as revived by Walpole's father. He wrote to [[William Mason (poet)|William Mason]], expounding his political philosophy:

{{blockquote|
I have for five and forty years acted upon the principles of the constitution as it was settled at the [[Glorious Revolution|Revolution]], the best form of government that I know of in the world, and which made us a free people, a rich people, and a victorious people, by diffusing liberty, protecting property and encouraging commerce; and by the combination of all, empowering us to resist the ambition of the [[House of Bourbon]], and to place ourselves on a level with that formidable neighbour. The narrow plan of royalty, which had so often preferred the aggrandizement of the Crown to the dignity of presiding over a great and puissant free kingdom, threw away one predominant source of our potency by aspiring to enslave America—and would now compensate for [[American Revolutionary War|that blunder and its consequence]] by assuming a despotic tone at home. It has found a tool in the light and juvenile son of the great minister who carried our glory to its highest pitch—but it shall never have the insignificant approbation of an old and worn out son of another minister, who though less brilliant, maintained this country in the enjoyment of the twenty happiest years that England ever enjoyed.
|source={{harvnb|Langford|2011}} }}