patriots

The name was appropriated by the opponents to Walpole since it implied that the interests of the nation were neglected by a supine and corrupt government. William Pitt, in particular, beat the patriotic drum when he inveighed against Britain's subservience to Hanover, a ‘despicable electorate’. Ministers, in reply, were scornful of patriotic rhetoric: ‘it is but refusing to gratify an unreasonable or insolent demand, ’ declared Walpole, ‘and up starts a patriot.’