Memoirs of the Pretenders and their adherents

Front matter

. MEMOIRS or THE PRETENDERS AND THEIR ADHERENTS. By JOHN HENEAGE JESSE, AUTHOR OF " MEMOIRS OF THE COUET OF ENGLAND," "GEORGE SELWYN AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES," ETC. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, •giibltsljrr in ©xtsimro to fficr *fHnjr£Sti). 1845. LONDON : Printed by S. & J. Bentley, Wilson, and Fley, Bangor House, Shoe Lane. PAGE 1 19 40 67 CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. JAMES FREDERICK EDWARD STUART. Chapter I. — Birth of the Prince. — How viewed by the two op posite Parties. — Arguments for and against his being a surreptitious Offspring. — Conduct of the French Court. — Commpncement of the Revolution. — Distressing Situation of the King and Queen. — In justice of Depriving the Prince of his natural Rights Chapter II. — Death of James II. and William III. — Hopes of the Pretender from the Accession of Queen Anne. — Project of Louis XIV. for his Restoration. — Failure of the Expedition. — The Che valier's Letter to his Sister. — Death of the Queen, and accession of George I. — Unpopularity of the Hanoverians. — Projected Rising of the Pretender's Friends .....

Chapter III. — The Earl of Mar and other Nobles swear Fealty to James the Third. — Publicly proclaimed King in Scotland. — Inactivity of the Earl of Mar. — Battle of Sheriffmuir. — Retreat of the Chevalier's Forces. — Arrests of his Adherents in England. — Defeat and Surrender of his Army at Preston. — Arrival of the Che valier from France. — His Journey to Scoon . . , Chapter IV. — Advance of the Duke of Argyll.— Dejection of the Chevalier. — His Retreat to Montrose, and Flight to the Continent. — His Arrival in France, and Dismissal of Lord Bolingbroke. — Proceeds to Rome. — His Marriage with the Princess Sobieski. — Project of Charles XII. for his Restoration. — His Visit to Madrid. — Project of Alberoni for the Invasion of England. — Its Failure. — His Character towards the Close of Life. — His Death, and Funeral Obsequies ........

CONTENTS. PAGE 79 90 102 114 135 THE PRINCESS CLEMENTINA MARIA SOBIESKI. Birth and early Character of the Princess. — Selected for the Wife of the Pretender. — Wogan's Account of his Romantic Adventures to carry the Proposal to her. — Arrested, and confined in a Convent at Innspruck. — Stratagem for her Release. — Arrival at Bologna. — Her Reception by the Chevalier. — Medal struck in Commemoration of her Escape. — Disagreement with her Husband, and Separation. •Keysler's Character of her in her Fifty-fifth Year.— Her Death JAMES RADCLIFFE, EARL OF DERWENTWATER. His Birth and early Connexions. — How related to the Stuarts. — Joins the Insurgents. — His Arrest, Trial, and Defence. — His Sen tence and Death. — Question as to his Place of Burial determined . WILLIAM MAXWELL, EARL OF NITHISDALE.

Chapter I

Birth of the Prince. — How viewed by the two opposite Parties. — Arguments for and against his being a surreptitious Offspring. — Conduct of the French Court. — Commencement of the Revolution. — Distressing situation of the King and Queen. — Injustice of Depriving the Prince of his natural Rights. James Frederick Edward Stuart, the only son of James the Second by his second wife, Mary of Modena, was born at St. James's Palace on the 10th of June, 1688. The event, in proportion as it was hailed by James, and by the Roman Catholic portion of his subjects, as a peculiar boon from Heaven, excited the terror and suspicion of the majority of the English nation : it took place, moreover, in the midst of those oppressive and unconstitutional acts, which, only a few months afterwards, lost him the sovereignty of three kingdoms.

Already the arbitrary conduct of the misguided monarch, — the revival of the eccle- VOL. I. B siastical commission, the suspension of the penal statutes against the Roman Catholics, the attempt on Magdalen College, and the arrest of the seven bishops, — had excited a formidable spirit of opposi tion on the part of the English nation: indeed, at the time when the Jesuits and courtiers who sur rounded the throne were celebrating the birth of the infant Prince, their rejoicings might almost be heard to intermingle with the revilings heaped by the ex cited populace against the Court, and with the prayers and benedictions which they offered up for the seven bishops, as they followed and encouraged them in their triumphant passage to the Tower. At such a crisis, therefore, — when the country was in a general state of ferment from the domineering spirit of aggression displayed by the Roman Catho lics on the one hand, and, on the other, by the de voted resolution on the part of the rest of the nation to sacrifice their lives and fortunes in defence of their civil and religious liberties, — we can scarcely wonder, however we may regret the fact, that every expedient should have been adopted by the enemies of James to heap odium on his name, or that party zeal should have invented even the most improbable falsehoods for the purpose of injuring his cause.

Among these umvorthy expedients was one which, at any other period of our history, would have been treated with the contempt it deserved, but Avhich, in the existing state of extraordinary excitement, was swallowed with greedy delight. From the time when the young Queen had been first declared to be preg nant, a report had been sedulously spread by the enemies of the Court, that the King, in order to transmit his dominions and his bigotry to a Roman Catholic heir, had determined to impose a surreptitious offspring on his Protestant subjects. As early as the month of January, five months before the Queen's delivery, Ave find Lord Clarendon inserting the following curious passage in his Diary: — "Jan. 15th. In the morning I Avent to St. James's church; this is the thanksgiving-day appointed for the Queen's being with child; there were not above two or three in the church who brought the form of prayer Avith them.* It is strange to see hoAv the Queen's being with child is everywhere ridiculed, as if scarce any body believed it to be true: good God help us!"

Neither was the disbelief in the Queen's pregnancy confined to the vulgar and misinformed. Men of the first rank and intelligence either believed, or affected to believe, that an imposture was contemplated; and even the two great historians of the period, the Bishops * Among other circumstances which gave rise to some disagreeable comment at the period, was the fact, that the form of thanksgiving was drawn up, not by the proper person, the Archbishop of Canterbury, but by three bishops, who were in favour at Court, and who were conse quently selected for the task. These persons were Thomas Spratt, Bishop of Rochester ; Thomas AVhrte, Bishop of Peterborough ; and Nathaniel Crew, Bishop of Durham. Two Toms and a Nat In Council sat, To rig out a thanksgiving And made a prayer For a thing in the air, That 's neither dead nor living, &c. This ballad, which appears to have been highly popular at the period, affords additional proof how early suspicions were entertained as to the Queen's being really with child. b of Peterborough and Salisbury, unequivocally give utterance to their suspicions on the subject.

" It had been for some months uncertain," says Bishop Ken nett, " whether Windsor, Hampton Court, or White hall, Avas to be the place Avhere the Queen designed to lie in. But on the sudden, her Majesty had this week given orders for the fitting up of an apartment for that purpose in St. James's House, and sent many repeated commands that it must be finished by Satur day night. Accordingly, her Majesty, on Saturday June 9, was carried in a chair to St. James's, after she had played at cards at Whitehall till eleven o'clock at night ; and the next morning, between the hours of nine and ten, people were not a little sur prised to hear that she was brought to bed of a Prince ; nay, the news was told with as much confidence before the delivery as after it* as if it were a secret committed to some people who could not keep it."f Bishop Burnet, also, among other specious arguments in support of a supposititious birth, observes: — " The Queen, for six or seven years, had been in such a wretched state of health, that her death had been constantly anticipated; she had buried all her chil dren shortly after they had been born, and her affairs were managed with a mysterious secrecy, to which * As I went by St. James's I heard a bird sing, That the Queen had for certain a boy for the King ; But one of the soldiers did laugh and did say, It was born over night, and brought forth the next day.

This bantling was heard at St. James's to squall, Which made the Queen make so much haste from Whitehall. Song, sung by two gentlemen at the Maypole, in the Strand. t Bishop Kennett's Complete History, vol. iii. p. 512. none had access but a few Papists." And the Bishop afterwards adds, — " What truth soever there may be in these reports, this is certain, that the method in which this matter was conducted, from first to last, was very unaccountable. If an imposture had been intended, it could not have been otherwise managed." The following may be briefly mentioned as the principal arguments adduced at the period in support of the accusation brought against the royal family, of having imposed a surreptitious Prince of Wales on the nation.

It was alleged, that in con sequence of his early irregularities, and from other private reasons, the King had become incapable of having children ; — that the Queen was not only in a very delicate state of health, but had been more than six years without bearing a child ; — that her sudden removal from Whitehall to St. James's, on the eve of her delivery, was equally mysterious and unaccountable; — that the event took place on a Sunday, during divine service, when most of the Protestant ladies of the Court were at chapel; — that neither the Arch bishop of Canterbury, the Princess of Denmark, nor the Dutch ambassador, (the latter the representative of the Princess of Orange, the nearest Protestant heir to the throne,) were in attendance at the birth; — that, previous to her delivery, the Queen permitted neither the Princess of Denmark, nor any of the Pro testant ladies of her Court, to satisfy themselves of her pregnancy ; — that, during the labour, the curtains of the bed were draAvn more closely than was usual on such occasions ; and lastly, in order to account for the manner in which the child Avas imposed on those who were in attendance at the birth, it was insisted, that an apartment had been purposely selected for the Queen's accommodation, in which there was a door near the head of the bed which opened on a back staircase ; — that though the Aveather was hot, and the room heated by the crowd of persons who were pre sent, a warming-pan had been introduced into the bed ; — and, finally, that the pan contained a new-born child, which immediately afterwards was presented to the by-standers as the offspring of the Queen.

Such were the principal features of the celebrated " warming-pan story," which, however improbable and even ridiculous it may appear to the sober judgment of a succeeding generation, continued to obtain cred ence for more than half a century ; — a story which first entailed on the son and grandson of James the Second the famous and invidious title of *' Pretenders;" and which, in a word, had the effect of undermining, far more than any other circumstance whatever, the cause of the ill -fated Stuarts. In regard to the ar guments which have been brought forward to refute this remarkable fiction, there can be no necessity to dwell on them at length. It is sufficient to observe, that at the time of the Queen's delivery there were present in the royal apartment, besides the nurses and medical attendants, forty-two persons of rank, — consisting of eighteen members of the Privy Council, four other noblemen, and twenty ladies, including the Queen Dowager, all of whom, as far as circumstances would allow, were witnesses of the birth of the Prince of Wales.

By the desire of James, the solemn depo sitions of these persons, twenty-four of whom were Protestants, were taken doAvn on oath before the Privy Council, and may still be seen among the ar chives of the Council Office.* The evidence of the ladies, who were of course permitted a nearer approach to the royal bed, though of a nature too delicate to be recapitulated, is sufficiently decisive. The officers of state, moreover, and other male persons who were present, (and among these were the Lord Chancellor, the Lord President of the Council, the Lord Cham berlain, the Lord Privy Seal, and the Secretary of State,) deposed, that they had seen the royal infant immediately after the Queen's delivery ; that they perceived it to be a Prince, and that it had all the signs of having been just born. No individual, indeed, who was introduced in after years to the exiled repre sentative of the Stuarts, — supposing him to have been previously acquainted with the features and person of his misguided father, — ever for a moment questioned that he was the legitimate offspring of King James. f Notwithstanding the gloomy aspect of affairs, and the general suspicion which prevailed that the King's bigotry had induced him to impose a spurious off- * So anxious was James to clear away the doubts which hung over the birth of his heir, that he condescended to order the publication of the several declarations made before the Council, with all their indelicate details.

They were printed in the shape of a small pamphlet, which I have now before me, entitled, " Depositions made in Council, on Monday the 22nd of October, 1688, concerning the Birth of the Prince of Wales," and is stated to be published, "By his Majesty's Special Command." t It is a remarkable fact, that as early as 1682, when the Queen, then Duchess of York, was declared to be pregnant, the same rumours were propagated as on the present occasion, that an imposture was intended to be obtruded on the nation. Fortunately on that occasion the infant proved to be a female, or doubtless some improbable fiction would have been invented similar to that which obtained credit in 1688. In the spring on his people, the Court thought proper to celebrate the birth and baptism of the young Prince with the usual splendour and rejoicings.

The King knighted the royal accoucheur, Sir William Walde grave, by the Queen's bedside; he distributed magnificent presents among his ministers ; and gave large sums of money to different charities. With his usual imprudence, James had obtained the consent of the Pope to become one of the sponsors of the child ; the ceremony of baptism being performed according to the rites of the Romish Church. The customary con gratulations were received from foreign powers, who despatched ambassadors on the occasion; and among these came, from the Court of France, the celebrated Count de Grammont, who, a quarter of a century be fore, had carried off la belle Hamilton from the gay Court of Charles the Second.* The tidings of the birth of a Prince of Wales was naturally received with unequivocal satisfaction by the French Court, who not only trusted to see the throne of Great Britain transmitted to a Roman Ca tholic Prince, but were elated at seeing the Princess Observator, No. 194, printed August 23rd, 1682, is the following curious passage : — "If it had pleased God to give his Royal Highness the blessing of a son, as it proved a daughter, you were prepared to make a Perkin of him.

To what end did you take so much pains else, by your instruments and intelligences, to hammer it into the people's heads that the Duchess of York was not with child ? And so, in case of a son, to represent him as an impostor; whereas, you have now taken off the mask in confessing the daughter. I would have the impression of this cheat sink so far into the heads and hearts of all honest men, as never to be effaced or forgotten. For we must expect, that the tame flam shall, at any time hereafter, be trumpt up again upon the like occasion." * Ellis's Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 5. Mary, and, with her, their arch-enemy, the Prince of Orange, thrust aside from the prospect of succession. On the 16th of June, Sir Bevil Skelton, Envoy Ex traordinary at the Court of France, Avrites from Paris to the Earl of Sunderland, — " On Thursday morning, about six o' the clock, the courier which came to the Cardinal Nuncio brought me the happy news of the birth of a Prince; for which greatest of blessings Heaven be praised!

I immediately therefore went to Versailles, where M. de Barillon's courier had brought the news at twelve the night before. I found so general a joy in all people there, as I never yet saw upon any occasion. His most Christian Majesty, at coming from Council to go to mass, called me to him, and, with a satisfaction in his face not to be expressed, told me that, next to the King, my master, no man had a greater joy than he for the news of a Prince being born ; * and,' says he, ' I am the more pleased, that Barillon writes 'tis a strong and healthful child.' And the Dukes de la Tremouille, and Rochefoucault, with Monsieur de Croissy, who were at his Avaking, at which time the neAvs was brought him by the latter, told me they never saw any man so joyful. Madame la Dauphine is indisposed, and in bed; yet she sent for me, and said, though she saw no man, yet she could not forbear rejoicing with me upon account of the great news, — and expressed great joy.

And the little Duke of Burgundy, whilst I was talking to Madame la Marechale de la Motte, of his OAvn accord, told me, that he would that night, for joy, order three score fusees to be fired. Madame la Marechale in tends, in October next, to give me something to send to the Queen, to be hung about the Prince's neck, which prevents the inconveniences that commonly attend the breeding of teeth. The same has been used to these three young Princes, with good success."* The birth of an heir to his throne was not des tined to be long a subject of congratulation to the unfortunate James. Six months had not elapsed from the period of the Queen's delivery, when the increasing disaffection among his subjects, the landing of the Prince of Orange, and the near ap proach of the invading army to the metropolis, determined the King to secure, by any means that might offer themselves, the escape of the Queen and her young offspring to a foreign and more hospitable shore.

Fortune for once favoured the unhappy mon arch. There happened to be lying off Gravesend a yacht, that had been appointed to convey to France the gay and gallant Count de Lauzun, the especial favourite of Louis the Fourteenth. Accordingly, without betraying his intentions to the Queen, the King sent a messenger for Lauzun, who, entering enthusiastically into his views, guaranteed, within a short time, to provide every requisite for ensuring the object they had in view. The King, harassed and distressed, then retired to bed, but had slept only a short time when he was awakened by the Count de Lauzun and Monsieur de St. Victor, who acquainted him that every prepara tion had been made for her Majesty's flight, James instantly rose from bed, and repaired to the apart- * Macpherson's Original Papers, vol. i. pp. 263 and 264. ment of the Queen, Avho no sooner was made to under stand the part which she was so unexpectedly called upon to take, than she threw herself at the King's feet, and, in a passion of grief, implored him to allow her to remain with him, and share his dangers or his flight.

But James turned a deaf ear to her entreaties, and almost coldly gave directions that the Marchioness of Powis, the Prince's governess, as well as his tAvo nurses, should be instantly aA?akened. His sensations, perhaps, at this particular moment, — occasioned by the wonderful reverse which had taken place in his fortunes, and the prospect of parting, perhaps for the last time, with a wife and child .vhom he so tenderly loved, — were such as were little to be envied. Nevertheless, he preserved his usual coldness of manner till the moment when the infant was brought into the room, when his feelings sud denly got the mastership of him, and, affectionately embracing his child, he enjoined the Count de Lau zun, with a tremulous voice, to watch carefully over his invaluable charge.* It would be difficult to imagine a position more distressing, than that in which the young and beau tiful Queen found herself suddenly placed in this ex traordinary crisis.

At three o'clock on a December morning, bearing her infant son in her arms, and accompanied by her trembling attendants, she stole * On the day of the Queen's flight, (the 10th of December,) the King writes to the Earl of Dartmouth, — " Things having so very bad an as pect, I would no longer defer securing the Queen and my son, which I hope I have done ; and that by to-morrow by noon they will be out of the reach of my enemies. I am at ease now I have sent them away." — Macpherson's Orig. Papers, vol. i. p. 297. in a close disguise doAvn the privy stairs at Whitehall to the water's edge, dreading every moment lest a cry from her beloved charge should attract the attention of the guards. The weather, too, was peculiarly inclement, even for the month of December; the night was extremely dark; there was a high and piercing wind ; the rain fell incessantly, and the river which she had to cross was unusually swollen.

On such a night, the Queen of Great Britain crossed the Thames in an open boat to Lambeth, where a hired coach had been appointed to meet her, but the arrival of which had by some accident been delayed. " During the time," says Dalrymple, " that she was kept Avaiting, she took shelter under the walls of an old church at Lambeth ; turning her eyes, streaming with tears, sometimes on the Prince, unconscious of the miseries which attend upon royalty, and who, upon that account, raised the greater compassion in her breast, — and sometimes to the innumerable lights of the city, amidst the glim merings of which, she in vain explored the palace in which her husband was left, and started at every sound she heard from thence."* While the unfortunate Queen remained in this dis tressing situation, an incident occurred which very nearly led to her falling into the hands of her enemies.

" The Queen," says Father Orleans, " was Avaiting in the rain, under the church wall, for a coach that was being got ready, Avhen the curiosity of a man, who happened to come out of a neighbouring inn with a light, gave considerable cause of alarm. He was making Dalrymple's Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland, \ol. i. p. 238. toAvards the spot Avhere she was standing, Avhen Riva, one of her attendants, suddenly rushed fonvard and jostled him, so that they both fell into the mire. It was a happy diversion, as the stranger believing it to be the result of accident, they both apologized, and so the matter ended." From Lambeth the Queen jour neyed by land to Gravesend, where, in the character of an Italian lady returning to her own country, she embarked with her infant charge on board the yacht Avhich was waiting for her.

The precaution, it seems, had been taken of securing the services of three Irish officers, Avho remained near the captain durina the voyage, ready to perform any desperate action, in the event of their interference being required. The Queen, hoAvever, was allowed ta remain unmolested in her cabin, and, after an expeditious voyage, arriA*ed safely at Calais, from whence she was conducted to St. Germains with all the honours befitting her rank. Within a few weeks from this period occurred those memorable events in England which terminated in the expulsion of James the Second, and in his infant son being thrust aside from the succession. That the unhappy King, by the violation of those funda mental laws which he had sworn to uphold, and by his endeavours to subvert the constitution of the country, had deservedly forfeited the power which he had so grossly abused, there are few who will be inclined to call in question.

But, in deposing the guilty father, we cannot but be struck by the injus tice of that act of arbitrary power on the part of the legislature, which at the same time took upon itself to punish the innocent son ; — an act which, for more than sixty years, continued to embarrass and distract the three kingdoms; which poured forth the blood which flowed in Ireland during the following year; and from which resulted those massacres, proscrip tions, and executions, which followed the suppression of the insurrections of 1715 and 1745. In order to give a colouring of justice to the pro ceedings of the legislature, and perhaps to advance the views of the Prince of Orange to the throne, the old story of the Prince's supposititious birth was con fidently insisted upon. The result was, that a mere party lie had, in the end, a far greater effect in chang ing an ancient dynasty than even the errors and the bigotry of the deposed monarch, or the advance of the Stadtholder at the head of his victorious troops.

The Revolution of 1688 should have stood on higher grounds. All sense of justice, however, had been lost in the exultation of the moment ; and while the nation hastened to worship the rising sun, and to follow the Prince of Orange in his triumphant progress to the palace of the Stuarts, it was natural that the claims of an exiled and powerless infant should be com pletely forgotten by the majority, and advocated only by the few. It was not till the English people found themselves encumbered by a race of foreign sovereigns, ignorant alike of their language and their customs, — it was not till they discovered themselves to be perpetually involved in continental wars on account of a petty German Electorate, nor till the horrors of repeated civil insurrections discovered to them the inconveni ence of a disputed succession, — that they began to reflect on the misfortunes which had been inflicted upon them by the over-zeal of their predecessors, and on the injustice of making the child responsible for the misconduct of the father.

What offence, indeed, had the young Prince been guilty of, that he should haAre been deprived in so summary a manner of his legitimate rights ; or what policy Avas there in transferring the succession to his sisters, in Avhose veins the blood of the ill-fated Stuarts ran as plentifully as in his own ? Exiled from his country, and deprived of his splendid birth right, even before he was acquainted with the meaning of the term, as yet his infantine mind could have received no dangerous impressions from the precepts or example of his misguided parent. Amiable and tractable, indeed, as he afterwards proved, there can be little doubt, that had he been educated under the eye of a careful regency, he would at least have proved as respectable a sovereign as either of the German Electors who subsequently filled his place.

It may be argued, and certainly with sufficient reason, that had an offer been made to the deposed monarch of educating his son in England, the same bigotry, (which, in the words of a dignitary of his own Church, had caused him *** to lose three kingdoms for an old mass,"*) would equally have induced him to surrender on the part of his heir, all claim to the * " The King's intemperate zeal was ridiculed even by the Court of Rome. And how must he have been mortified, if, upon his first appear ance at Versailles, after his abdication, he had heard Cardinal say to the person who stood next to him, — ' See the man who lost three king doms for an old mass V"—Dr. King's Anecdotes of his own Time, p. 127, note. throne. Nevertheless, the proposition ought unques tionably to have been made; or, at least, some pre cautions might have been taken for preventing the removal to a foreign land, of the heir to the throne, Vho was thus certain to be impregnated with the most pernicious doctrines.

It is remarkable, that William the Third should apparently have been the first to feel alarm at the dangerous precedent which had been created in his favour, and to anticipate those convulsions and dis asters which subsequently resulted from the succession becoming a disputed one. It is a fact, indeed, of which our ancestors appear to have been ignorant, that, after the death of his Queen, William actually took upon himself the responsibility of signifying his assent to the exiled Court at St. Germains, that if the young Prince were sent to England to be educated in the Protestant faith, he would give his per sonal consent to his succeeding him on the throne.* James, however, as might have been anticipated, turned a deaf ear to the unpalatable proposition. Of the early history of the young Prince, no par ticulars of any interest have been handed down to us.